Volodymyr Bakhtov “A Handful of Sand” (from the series “Winds of Cimmeria”). 49.5×64 cm.

Cimmeria is the oldest name for the Northern Black Sea Coast. Very little is known about the peoples who inhabited it. Without a written language, they left no mythological texts. When you are in the same geographical space as the ancient Cimmerians, you can easily identify with them and take the liberty of writing your own “Cimmerian mythology.” The main characteristics of this space remain unchanged: Sea, Sand, Sky … and Wind. And this incites the imagination.

On a hot and windy day, four women perform a mysterious ritual with a handful of sand. What might this ritual mean? Invocation of rain? Quieting of the wind? Fortune-telling or propitiation of gods?