The Priest

The Priest is one of the characters in Yankilevsky’s cityscape series. He is neither a philosopher lost in the cosmos nor a deranged mutant but a figure bent like a bridge over darkness, enclosed within a box-like space of existence that has grown alien to him. The priest’s broken hand, clutching a cross, symbolises this rupture, while the surrounding darkness borders landscapes of symbols whose once-perfect system has been disrupted. Beneath these symbols, the altar is split in two. Yankilevsky’s series sometimes begin with a single image that he sets aside for years or even decades, only to return to it later and continue. For instance, the first drawing in the series People in Boxes dates back to 1958.