On Heaven's Doorsill by Roxana Savin

On Heaven's Doorsill investigates the layered beliefs surrounding the theme of afterlife, delving into mythology, folk tales, and ancient traditions in rural Romania. The project is inspired by the artist's grandmother, Alexandra. She lived her whole life in a village in Romania, where time passed by the turning of the seasons and everyday existence unfolded in harmony with the ancient rhythms of the land. 

One night, long after she became a widow, as the earth held its breath, she had a peculiar dream. Her late husband appeared to her in silence. She asked him, “Have you come to take me across?” “Not yet,” he said. “I will be back for you at harvest time.” 
And so, she waited. 
The leaves turned gold, the hay was cut, and the fields swelled with ripeness. At harvest time, she entered the gates to the other side and rejoined him.

Her grandmother's dream reflects a particular worldview which is also shared by local customs, legends and myths, which the artist encountered while growing up, such as the Romanian folk ballad The Ewe. This is the story of a young shepherd who is warned by an enchanted ewe lamb about his imminent death. Faced with the news, the shepherd envisions his passing as an integration into nature's eternal rhythm, resembling the ending and beginning of the natural cycle. In this perspective, death is being accepted, and imagined as a cosmic wedding at 'Heaven's gate'; grief is subdued and the sorrow of “the great passing” is expressed not through anguish, but through the image of a falling star. 

The liminal space depicted in On Heaven’s Doorsill is one where the ordinary takes on an eerie quality, and the boundary between the living and the dead is fading. Rituals that pay tribute to the departed offer both solace and unease. The focus shifts inward, toward the inner, psychological terrain shaped by belief and its unsettling truths—reverence for and acceptance of death, the enduring weight of the past, and the lingering presence of spirits among the living.

Offset printing, size: 16.5 x 22 cm, 120 pages
Open thread stitching, two cut-outs on the covers
Japanese structured paper on the cover
Languages: English and Romanian
500 copies