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When I look at this photo, I hear music — cult music. When the Saints Go Marching In— sacred jazz hymn. The most famous performance of the composition was recorded in 1938. This was done by Louis Armstrong with the orchestra.
It is the song of the end, the song of the apocalypse. The end of the world begins, and the saints go to heaven, and the one who sings is visible, looks at them and wants to walk among them. The moon is filled with blood, the stars are shining, the riders are merciless, and an alarming trumpet sounds monotonously, calling for the Last Judgment. At such a moment, a little jazz will not hurt.
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When I look at this photo, the music rattles me, but instead of a trumpet, I imagine — and therefore I will definitely hear — an air of alarm. I suspect: when the real alarm of the end sounds, we will, of course, wake up, turn from side to side, seethe with indignation, deciding whether to get up or sleep further, until it falls somewhere nearby and car alarms go off under the house. I suspect: if the biblical end of the world came, we would still be hesitating: should we go down to shelter, can we stay another night?
All this photo creates the only truly ingenious trick with light. The picture shows the wall of Mikhailovsky Golden-topped in Kiev and a fresco created by the artist Volodymyr Pasyvenko. A year before Louis Armstrong recorded his When the Saints Go Marching In, the Soviets blew up the main temple of the monastery. A year after Armstrong recorded When the Saints Go Marching In, an artist was born who will paint this wall in the future. A month after the birth of the future author of this image, for most Europeans, the Second World War will begin. I write this without any overtones — I just juggle the years and the way photographer Serhiy Korovany captured the idea of the artist Volodymyr Pasyvenko.
The saints are walking — or perhaps fleeing — in their inevitable procession, and I think: what if the Last Judgment were imposed on another day of war? We would, of course, wake up, flip from side to side, and probably ask ourselves if we should go down for cover. Or, if they knew, they would quote Job: “When I go to bed, I say, when will I get up?”
Photo: Serhii Korovaynyi
Text: Vera Kuriko
