Dessert, 2025

Oleksandra Hrebelna  

In the “Anima Animus" series, I explore the architecture of the human psyche through the lens of Jungian theory, where the path to wholeness lies through a painful yet necessary encounter with one's own Shadow. I conceptualize the tension between the masculine and feminine principles not as a conflict, but as a dynamic process of the interpenetration of instinct and control. Having formed in the context of wartime, my worldview inevitably embodies the experience of ontological duality: between destruction and rebirth, pain and the capacity for love. In these works, I reject the search for a sterile ideal in favor of embracing “inner wildness," which liberates one from societal constructs about what a personality “should be." For me, this is a space where shadow does not absorb light but becomes its necessary condition, proving that harmony is possible only through the full acknowledgment of one's dark and chaotic sides.
In the presented work, I address the dark psychology of interpersonal relationships—the game of domination, manipulation, and subjugation. I explore a space where desire is realized through the exploitation of the other's weaknesses, “triggers," and hidden fetishes. I am interested in the subtle interplay on the boundary between the masculine and the feminine, where a paradoxical split emerges: a simultaneous fear of destruction and a subconscious, almost ecstatic desire to become a victim.
The visual and emotional tension of the painting resonates with the cinematic aesthetics of Robert Rodriguez's film *From Dusk Till Dawn* (1996).Here, much like the hypnotic dominion of the dark goddess Santaniko Pandemonium over the weaknesses of the male “self," a ritual of psychological subjugation unfolds. Instead of overt violence, I bring manipulation to the forefront as a dance of Shadows, where victim and hunter are bound by a shared secret pact. I show that our greatest vulnerabilities and “forbidden" desires are the shortest path through which another's will gains absolute power over us, exposing the underside of our control.

Exhibited at the personal exhibition "Anima Animus", Poltava, Ukraine, 2025.