In the video work "Chironna" I used an excerpt from the Italian text composed by the Italian film director, Pier Paolo Pasolini, for the speech of the centaur Chiron performed to the ears of the thirteen- year-old Jason, his adopted son, and an apprentice, at the beginning of the film "Medea", 1969.
It is a pessimistic monologue about awe, about how life, the world, is lost when awe is absent when the sense of holiness is forgotten.
In my video I become Chiron; a She-Chironna, reciting his monologue in Italian, which is not my language. The video is built of single still frames and is preoccupied with the decomposition of a horse's relaxation role and its imaginary composition on a human figure, my own.
The Medea background story:
In a horror story about the total destruction of life, of love, of anything holly and of value, Medea is the barbarian Princess-Priestess who, in her lustful desire for Jason, the conqueror and abolisher of her people and religion, destroys her father, murders her brother, submits to Jason the Golden Fleece, sacred to her people, and herself. When Jason cheats on her, she avenges by the murder of their two sons.
Chiron was held to be the superlative centaur amongst his brethren, as he was called the "wisest and justest of all the centaurs". He lives in a cave and does not participate in the riots that are the daily rule of his kind. He is the great educator (teacher of Theseus, Achilles, Hercules, Talmon, Escalpius and many others, and even the teacher of Dionysus), who despite his wondrous grandiloquence fails to instill values, as is mournfully exemplified in the Jason myth, Jason being his good student who becomes a criminal. At least that has been Pasolini's modern eye upon this figure.
It is precious to me that in this story, the one pointing at the sanctity of Life is half a beast. For me, the case of Chiron's split anatomy, half man-half horse, in itself, sets an ethical exemplary. I reckon that the like has been the understanding of this figure by every artist who engaged himself/herself with this myth, and indeed Chiron has been present in the arts for hundreds of years.
Tutto è santo, tutto è santo, tutto è santo!
All is sacred, all is sacred, all is sacred!
הכול†קדוש, הכול†קדוש, הכול†קדוש!
Non c’è niente di naturale nella natura ragazzo mio,
There is nothing natural in Nature, my lad,
אין†שום†דבר†טבעי†בטבע, נער†שלי,
tienitelo bene in mente.
Remember that!
תזכור†את†זה!
Quando la natura ti sembrerà naturale, tutto sarà finito
The day Nature seems natural to you, it means the end,
ביום†שבו†הטבע†יראה†לך†טבעי, זה†יהיה†הסוף,
e comincerà qualcos' altro,
And the beginning of something else.
וההתחלה†של†משהו†אחר.
addio cielo, addio mare.
Farewell sky, Farewell Sea
שלום†שמים, שלום†ים,
Che bel celo, vicino, felice.
A beautiful sky! What silence! How luminous!
איזה†שמים†נהדרים! קרובים, אושר!
Di, ti sembra che un pezzetto solo sia innaturale
Doesn’t it seem that a small piece of that sky is quite unnatural
נראה†לך†שקצת†מהשמים†האלה†אולי†לא†טבעיים
e che sia posseduto da un Dio?
And possessed by a god? Mmm?
ושייכים†לאיזה†אל, אה?
E così è il mare in questo giorno in cui tu hai tredici anni
And the sea is the same, on this your thirteenth birthday.
והים, גם†הים†הוא†כזה... היום, כשאתה†בן†שלוש- עשרה
e peschi con i piedi nell’acqua tiepida.
And you can fish barefoot in the warm water.
ויכול†לדוג†יחף†במים†החמים
Guardati alle spalle, che cosa vedi, eh?
Look behind you! What do you see? Eh?
ס'תכל†אחורה! אז†מה†אתה†רואה, נו?
Forse qualcosa di naturale?
Something natural perhaps?
נראה†לך†שמשהו†פה†הוא†טבעי?
No, è un’ apparizione quella che tu vedi alle tue spalle,
No, it's an apparition all that which you see behind you,
לא, זה†רק†כאילו, כל†מה†שאתה†רואה†פה†מאחור,
con le nuvole che si specchiano nell' acqua ferma e pesante delle tre del pomeriggio.
With the clouds reflected in the calm, still water, at three in the afternoon.
עם†העננים†שמשתקפים†במים†השקטים, הדוממים, עכשיו, בשלוש†אחר†הצהריים,
Guarda laggiù,
Look out there,
תסתכל†לשם,
quella striscia nera sul mare lucido e rosa come l’olio, eh?
At that black streak on the sea, lucid and pink as oil! Eh?
אל†הפס†השחור†על†הים, זוהר†בוורוד†כמו†שמן, אה?
quelle ombre di alberi e quei canneti,
Those shadows of trees, those reeds. Eh?
...צללי†העצים†האלה, קני†הסוף†האלה, אה?
in tuoi occhi guardano è nascosto un Dio,ogni punto in cui
Whosesoever your eye roams, a god is hidden.
לאן†שאתה†לא†מסתכל, שם†חבוי†אל.
e se per caso non c’ è ha lasciato li segni della sua presenza sacra:
And if by chance he be not there, the signs of his sacred presence are:
ואם†הוא†במקרה†נעדר, אז†תמיד†יהיו†שם†סימנים†של†נוכחותו†הקדושה:
o silenzio o odore di erba o fresco di acque dolci.
Silence or the smell of grass, Or the freshness of the cool water.
הדממה†או†ריח†עשב, או†הרעננות†של†מים†מתוקים.
Eh si, tutto è santo, ma la santità è insieme una maledizione.
Yes, everything is holy, but holiness is also a malediction.
אה†כן, הכול†קדוש, אבל†גם†הקדושה†היא†קללה,
Gli Dei che amano, nel tempo stesso odiano
The gods that love, at the same time hate.
האלים†שאוהבים, הם†גם†שונאים...
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