Apokatastasis is reconstitution, restitution, or restoration to the original or primordial condition. In this particular situation – symbolic collection of my own scattered bones in the spiritual desert and putting them all together in order to feel myself as a whole, to understand the cause of decisions, the direction of life, which is affected by invisible stream (subconscious) and to express it as common to all humankind. 

In the creation process, I refered to such psychologists-analysts like C.G. Jung, Clarissa Pinkola Estés and humanitarian psychologist Rollo May, because their experience is similar to mine in some ways and it inspired their further explorations and scientific work. 

Rollo May examined the paradox of a “wounded healer” and said that those, who went through rough challenges can transform their experience into something that encourages growth. He also noticed that the process of creation was equal to dealing with neurosis. R.May talks about test, in which 166 people participated. They were observed for 30 years from the day they were born. The final conclusion was that psychologists were wrong two times out of three, because they overestimated the destructive effect of the early childhood problems. They could not predict what “the perfect” childhood effect will be. In general, a certain dose of stress and provocative situations make a person grow and strengthens his/her psychological health. 

Clarissa Pinkola Estés - an American Jungian analyst, post-trauma specialist, author and spoken word artist says: “But still others will find their way to what Jung called “the moral obligation” to live out and to express what one has learned in the descent or ascent to the wild Self. / This moral obligation he speaks of means to live what we perceive, be it found in the psychic Elysian fields, the isles of the dead, the bone deserts of the psyche, the face of the mountain, the rock of the sea, the lush underworld—anyplace where La Que Sabe* breathes upon us, changing us. Our work is to show we have been breathed upon—to show it, give it out, sing it out, to live out in the topside world what we have received through our sudden knowings, from body, from dreams and journeys of all sorts.”** 

While designing C.G. Jung’s book, I chose x-ray photos of human bones as illustrations. According to C.P. Estes, who explored symbols and archetypes in the same manner as C.G. Jung: “In archetypal symbology, bones represent the indestructible force. They do not lend themselves to easy reduction. They are by their structure hard to burn, nearly impossible to pulverize. In myth and story, they represent the indestructible soul-spirit. We know the soul-spirit can be injured, even maimed, but it is very nearly impossible to kill./ You can dent the soul and bend it. You can hurt it and scar it. You can leave the marks of illness upon it and the scorch marks of fear. But it does not die, for it is protected by La Loba* in the underworld. She is both the finder and the incubator of the bones.”** The symbol of teeth falling out in dream is also used because of its Jungian interpretation. It means spiritual rebirth, especially if the dreamer is a woman, because a woman is associated with the possibility to give birth. 

Black cubes symbolise a small room inside everyone. It is a place where everything that we hide or something that we are not quite determined to examine carefully in the light. The little light is expression of the moment, when pain becomes a valuable experience, when one does not pity himself anymore and lets go off the past without asking “Why me?” everyday. Black cube can also be referred to Kaaba in Mecca – black stone shaped like a cube, to which muslims bow to pray everyday. These little cubes are like little sanctuaries in everyone of us and in order to know ourselves we need to take an inner pilgrimage. 

All of this opposes common explanations about traumas and symbols in dreams, but enriches the understanding of the dark side of the life and gives it the shade of dawn as well as more depth. 

In the process of artistic research and creation human being and his/her experience was examined in three levels:
-         Outside physical (skin)
-         Inside physical (bones, internal organs)
-         Inside subtle (subconscious, soul, dreams, archetypes)

The essence of this artwork is to express what affects people and their choices and what can be gained due to painful experiences when you use it for creational, scientific or individual growth purposes. 

*****
* La Que Sabe, La Loba – The One Who Knows and The Wolf Woman. Mythical creatures,  known for their infinite wisdom. They revive and nurture instinctive, intuitive origins. 
** Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D “Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype” p. 49-52