HOLY FAMILY IN EXILE

 

Irenaeus Yurchuk’s Nativity is a response to Russia’s 2022 military invasion of Ukraine. We do not seen the traditional, peacefilled birth of our savior, but rather a war-zone Nativity. It shows the Holy Family, rendered in iconic style, sheltering at night in the rubble of a bombed-out apartment complex. Surrounded by fallen steel beams, concrete, and broken glass, the Virgin Mother Mary holds the newborn Jesus while a downcast Joseph sits beside them with head in hands. Though their circumstances are dire, through the building’s shell shines one particularly bright star, signifying hope in the horror.

CHRISTMAS LEGEND

Christmas Eve and we, the poor,
All night long will be sitting here
And the room is cold that we house in
And the wind that blows outside blows in.
Come, dear Lord Jesus, enter too
For truly we have need of you.

We sit around this holy night
Like heathen who never saw the light.
The snow falls cold on these bones of ours.
The snow cannot bear to be out of doors:
Snow, come indoors with us, for sure
They’ll not house you in heaven either.

We’ll brew up a toddy and then we’ll feel
Warmer and easy, body and soul.
We’ll brew a hot toddy. Round our thin walls
Blindly some brute beast fumbles.
Quick, beast, come in with us – your kind too
This night has nowhere warm to go.

We’ll feed our coats to the fire and so
We’ll all be warmer than we are now.
Oh the joists will glow and we shan’t freeze
Not till the hour before sunrise.
Come in, dear wind, dear guest, welcome:
Like us, you have no house and home.

Bertolt Brecht ~ 1923    Translated from German by Tom Kuhn & David Constantine

Born in Ukraine and raised in Upstate New York, Irenaeus Yurchuk moved to New York City to earn an Architecture degree from The Cooper Union and graduate degrees in Urban Design and Planning from Columbia University. He has participated in group exhibitions in North America and Europe, and his works are held in private collections in the US and abroad.

“I have a special interest in characterizing buildings, which reflects my background in architecture and urban design,” he says. “Works in the show include reexamined images of distinctive edifices, abstractions of topographic components, and some observations of the natural environment in the Narrowsburg area, where I have spent more than 40 summers.”