Works » Graphic » Elderberry Heads

Elderberry Heads, 1994

Distorted human face drawn in elderberry-based ink on paper, part of Barbara Bónyai’s Elderberry Heads series.
GALLERY

Drawing series in book form. Mixed media, paper, graphite, ballpoint pen, elderberries-based ink, twine, liquid glue – 200 x 170 mm

The opening piece of the Tardigrades Cycle, this hand-stitched book (200 × 170 mm) comprises 37 drawings executed in graphite, black ballpoint pen, and plant-based ink extracted from elderberries. The originally deep burgundy pigment fades and browns over time, rendering the drawings tangible imprints of perishability and decay. The images depict distorted, suffering human faces: upward-turned heads with open mouths, their expressions frozen in catatonic or painful states.

The book contains just four brief textual entries:

  1. The Moron
  2. The Prophet
  3. Our Human Condition Is a Nightmarish Dream / Fat Man with Sunken Face
  4. Mama

These lines gesture toward the emotional and existential tonality underlying the images, and may also be read as chapters in a process of distortion that, rather than disfigurement, suggests inner realization. By the end of the series, the face appears utterly deformed, yet it becomes an almost hyperrealistic portrait – of a figure writhing in delirium: Mama, the Primeval Mother of Primordial Chaos, personification of erosive force.

This gallery presents a curated selection from the book:

Elderberry Heads No. 19 of 37, 1994. Mixed media, paper, elderberries-based ink – 200 x 170 mm

Elderberry Heads No. 25 of 37, 1994. Mixed media, paper, elderberries-based ink – 200 x 170 mm

Elderberry Heads No. 27 of 37, 1994. Mixed media, paper, elderberries-based ink – 200 x 170 mm

Elderberry Heads No. 30 of 37, 1994. Mixed media, paper, elderberries-based ink – 200 x 170 mm

Elderberry Heads No. 31 of 37, 1994. Mixed media, paper, elderberries-based ink – 200 x 170 mm

Elderberry Heads No. 32 of 37, 1994. Mixed media, paper, elderberries-based ink – 200 x 170 mm

Elderberry Heads No. 35 of 37, 1994. Mixed media, paper, elderberries-based ink – 200 x 170 mm

Elderberry Heads No. 36 of 37, 1994. Mixed media, paper, elderberries-based ink – 200 x 170 mm

Elderberry Heads No. 37 of 37, 1994. Mixed media, paper, elderberries-based ink – 200 x 170 mm

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