Following the onset of war in her homeland in 2022, Ukrainian artist Ellaya Yefymova relocated to Portugal. In 2023, after enduring a period of clinical depression, her artistic practice experienced a significant conceptual transformation, focusing on the themes of mortality and conscious existence. The painting “Liminal Cord”, arises from a liminal space—a threshold between disruption and change, where identity, meaning and stability are no longer constant. Liminality is expressed not as a fleeting anomaly, but as an essential state of being; an unstable yet productive realm, where each choice influences the subsequent stage of becoming.
Drawing from the historical tradition of Vanitas, Yefymova examines the fleeting nature of life and the certainty of death, while intentionally dismissing allegorical symbolism and romanticization. In this context, death serves as a structural boundary rather than a narrative element, a framework that heightens perception and imparts ethical significance to existence. In the painting, life is depicted as a beam of light: a focused moment between the onset of conscious identity and its eventual dissolution.
Through this conceptual perspective, the artist reinterprets the Memento Mori as Memento Vivere, suggesting that the recognition of mortality serves as a catalyst for awakening. Drawing from existentialist philosophy, the work aligns with Irvin D. Yalom’s claim that, while the reality of death may devastate us, the concept of death has the potential to liberate us. Facing our finitude transforms into a method for dispelling fear and illusion, enabling clarity, accountability and presence to emerge. Yefymova’s practice positions art as a universal language that transcends cultural and political boundaries. By emphasizing uncertainty and instability as inherent aspects of life, “Liminal Cord” encourages the viewer to reevaluate permanence as an illusion and to perceive liminality not as a disruption, but as life itself—a continuous process of becoming within finite limits.
