Great Prophets. Prophet Jonah 2015

This ink drawing of the Prophet Jonah was made by Dmytro Kavsan, sometime after 2015, it looks like. It's all inky swirls, with wispy lines, pools of diluted ink, and rhythmic curves – I can imagine Kavsan’s hand moving across the page, responding to the story of Jonah with a kind of fluid intensity. There’s a town perched on top of a head, or maybe a mountain, with a dark tornado erupting beneath. It’s as if the landscape itself is in turmoil, mirroring the prophet’s inner struggle. I think that it must have been quite powerful to create, as the artist navigates the darks and lights of the ink, allowing the image to take shape through a process of intuition and chance. It makes me think of other artists like William Blake, who combined visionary imagery with a raw, emotional expressiveness. Artists are always in conversation with each other! This piece isn’t just about illustration, but about the act of bringing complex feelings into being.