Worldview

Yuri Boyko's sculpture "Svitovyd" addresses one of the most important symbols of the pre-Christian worldview of the Slavs. Svitovyd, or Svyatovyt, is one of the most famous deities of Slavic mythology. In medieval chronicles, he is mentioned as a deity associated with war, divination, and harvest.
The most famous monument, which researchers associate with the cult of Svitovyd, is the Zbruch Idol - a unique stone sculpture of the 9th-10th centuries, found in 1848 in the Zbruch River near the village of Lychkivtsi in the Ternopil region. Today it is kept in the Archaeological Museum of Krakow. It is a tetrahedral stone pillar, the composition of which is divided into three horizontal tiers. Researchers often associate such a structure with the idea of the heavenly, earthly and underground levels of the universe, but this remains one of the interpretations of the monument. The image of a multifaceted sculpture and the idea of a holistic world order resonate with the author's idea of Yuriy Boyko.
Yuriy Boyko reinterprets this image in the language of modern plastic art. The composition consists of four monumental heads, united into a single stone volume. Each face is directed in a different direction, so when you walk around the sculpture, new angles and new relationships between its parts open up. The work does not have a single main point of view - it gradually opens up in space, evoking an association with the idea of omniscience. The sculptor turns faces into archetypes - symbols of nature, time and collective memory.
The granite surface is covered with carved signs and ornaments. They stylistically resemble ancient symbols: solar signs, wavy lines, geometric motifs. Such elements refer to traditional ornamentation, in which man sought to comprehend the connection with the earth, nature and space.
The author clarifies that he combines the image of Svitovyd with four key images of Slavic mythology - Perun, Mokosha, Dazhbog and Mara. Through them, the sculptor expresses his own vision of an ancient tradition in which life and death, male and female, light and darkness do not oppose each other, but exist as complementary components of a single world order. It is in the coexistence of these principles, according to the author, that harmony and balance are born.
The material itself plays an equally important role. Granite, one of the strongest natural rocks, enhances the feeling of monumentality, stability and durability. Stone becomes a carrier of cultural memory that survives generations, preserving myths, symbols and ideas about the world.
"Worldview" is a reflection on the continuity of culture and the connection of modern man with his past. The author suggests thinking about how ancient symbols continue to live in culture, shaping our understanding of nature, time, memory and our own roots.