YULIA NESIS
ART OF TAPESTRY
SELECTED WORKS
IN THE COLLECTION OF
ACCADEMIA ARTI DEL DISEGNO
FIRENZE, ITALY
"Terra Flammea"
110 X 130
FLAX, HEMP, NAILS, WOOD, TAPESTRY
2012
BACK SIDE
TERRA FLAMMEA, meaning "earth engulfed in flames." This is how the theologian Hilary of Poitiers translates the name of the first person who lived on earth - Adam.
In Hebrew, the name Adam shares its root with the Hebrew words אדמה (adamah) - "earth" and אדום (adom) - "red." Attempting to penetrate its inherent meaning, Hilary thus seeks to understand the essence and purpose of human existence. Why did the Lord name the first human Adam?
For is this suffering blood-red flesh not truly engulfed in flames? Does this earth not burn with desires and passions? Why is human life inseparable from pain and suffering, and why does the mortal body seem to burn up in life's fire?
T A P E S T R Y A R T
"Lithophyte"
HANDMADE TAPESTRY
2025
A tree that has taken root among the rocks. A plant that has found its own ecological niche here. A miracle of evolutionary adaptability. Here one can witness the motif of desperate struggle for existence, life’s ability to adapt to any adverse circumstances and put down roots where no life could possibly exist.
Applied to humanity, this might appear an overly obvious metaphor. An Austrian psychologist Viktor Frankl, who found the strength to survive a Nazi concentration camp within himself, wrote:
“WHEN WE ARE NO LONGER ABLE TO CHANGE
A SITUATION, WE ARE CHALLENGED TO
CHANGE OURSELVES”
However, the work “Lithophyte” is not only about this, but also about the special bond that emerges between tree and stone. This is a connection between the living and the lifeless, the flexible and the rigid, the young and the ancient.
OPPOSITES NEED EACH OTHER,
COMPLEMENT EACH OTHER,
AND CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT ONE ANOTHER
How would we know that stone is hard, were it not for the tree’s flexibility? How would we understand youth and transience, were it not for ancient rocks that have existed for millions of years?
And yet the tree and stone form a unified whole. The rock gradually crumbles and becomes soil, becoming both support for the tree and the very substance of this tree. The tree becomes an extension of the stone, its roots penetrating ever deeper into the crevices of the rock face. Without this stone, the tree cannot live.
Sometimes such interconnectedness is called love.
T A P E S T R Y A R T
"A Book Of Changes.
Lightning"
HANDMADE TAPESTRY
213 Х 285
2022
When the world is set in motion and uncertainty arrives, people have since time immemorial turned to the wisdom of soothsayers and divination to lift the veil of mystery and gain at least a hint of what awaits them in the future, and how they should act. People observed the movement of celestial bodies across the sky and composed horoscopes, learned the will of gods from the entrails of sacrificial animals, interpreted dreams, peered into the patterns of lines on palms, and sometimes simply waited for a randomly overheard word or other sign.
In China they have sought counsel from the “Book of Changes” (I Ching) for millennia. Using coins or yarrow stalks, the diviner determines one of 64 hexagrams. Each hexagram is a symbol, and by comprehending its meaning, the diviner can find answers to their pressing questions.
THE HORIZON IS ONE OF THE ANCIENT
METAPHORS FOR THE FUTURE
Once, seafarers gazed into the distance to see land and learn their fate. The Venetian merchant Marco Polo, the most famous of European travelers who managed to reach the Middle Kingdom, also gazed in the horizon. And so I too peer into the horizon—as if I am appealing to the heavens to receive some sign and glimpse into the future.
Lightning flashes are visible on the horizon, I hear the rumble of thunder. I recall the hexagram of Zhen (“Lightning”) from the “Book of Changes.” This hexagram signifies great upheavals, external changes that catch us off guard and frighten us. However, the diviner should maintain composure—and think about how not to spill the contents of their own life from terror.
Lightning comes and you cry out in fright “Oh! Oh! and then you laugh: “Ha-ha!”
Lightning frightens from hundreds of miles away, but it cannot overturn even a spoon of sacrificial wine.