In June 2022 a Spanish, Estonian and Latvian team created as part of the Valmiermuiža Ethnomusic Festival in Latvia a firesculpture dedicated to Ukraine symbolizing the transmutation through fire Ukraine is going through right now and its rebirth to freedom.
The 6m tall sculpture of the Ukrainian coat of arms made of metal remains in the centre of the park until the victory of Ukraine!
Ama-gi – Sumerian word for “Freedom”- the oldest known written concept of “freedom” – the literal translation is “coming back to the mother”, “coming back to where you belong”. The firesculpture has two main themes – freedom and transformation or transmutation. In order to reach freedom one has to go through a process of change, which is not always pleasant or easy. It often involves fear, pain and loss. The bird shape represents a falcon – a very intelligent predator, an active hunting bird that has been working together with humans for centuries. When the falcon is descending it has two aerodynamic shapes – M shape – that represents control, and the drop shape – which creates the unstopable speed. Once the falcon descends, the aim is clear and infallible – for the prey there is no escape. The bird – by turning into a phoenix – goes through an alchemic process and returns in the next stage in another quality. To continue to live, the phoenix bird has to die and to be reborn. To become something new and stronger, it needs to go through fire. The wooden bird burns and becomes ashes and rises from these ashes stronger and transformed – being the same but different. Once the transformation through fire is fulfilled, a metal structure emerges. The wood burns and disappears in ashes, but the metal is the soul, the essence that can be shaped, bended, but is persisting. Metal is much stronger than wood, it is not afraid of fire, through fire it becomes even stronger. Metal is not disappearing – it can transform, change shape, but it prevails. From that a new hope, FREEDOM emerges.