2025 Finalists

To understand the message, you need to know the Greek myth about Ariadne. The Cretan king Minos had a labyrinth next to the palace of Knossos, where the monster Minotaur lived. Every 9 years, Athens had to sacrifice 7 young men and 7 virgins to this monster. Once among these young people was the brave Athenian prince Theseus, who was determined to kill the Minotaur and break this harsh tradition of sacrifices. He came to Crete to face his challenge. But he was met by Minos’ daughter Ariadne and she fell in love with the brave man. No one had ever come out of the Minotaur’s labyrinth alive – not so much because of the Minotaur, but because of the labyrinth – it was extremely complicated. To prevent this from happening to Ariadne’s beloved Theseus, she gave him a ball of thread, and advised him to tie the beginning when entering the labyrinth. Theseus did so. He went into the labyrinth and with all his youthful strength and courage defeated the Minotaur, and with Ariadne’s thread he emerged from the labyrinth as the absolute winner. Since Ariadne had betrayed her father by helping Theseus, she had to flee Crete with him. He promised to marry her, but on the way to Athens, they stopped at the island of Naxos, and during the night, while Ariadne was sleeping, Theseus left her. So Ariadne lay on the rocks, pulling out her broken heart and grieving for Theseus’ betrayal. This is how Dionysus – the god of wine, chaos and ecstasy – found her and fell in love with her in an instant. He married her and he gave her a crown of stars, so that her name would be forever inscribed in the sky as a constellation. Theseus, though the winner, didn’t fare so well in the rest of the story, but we won’t continue about him this time… What is this story about?

The labyrinth in which the Minotaur lived is each of our inner worlds, and the monster is our unconscious shadow side, which we must confront or sacrifice forever. However, the story of Theseus tells us that these are not battles that can be won only with strength, courage and ambition. The Minotaur can perhaps be defeated that way. But it is the feminine, intuitively sensitive side that will lead you out of the labyrinth of the inner world, which everyone must find within themselves. We need both sides. So please – do not be like Theseus, who after a grand victory gives up this intuitive power as something insignificant, unimportant; be like Dionysus, who loves it in all its shades. Be like Ariadne – a symbol of the inner light that will lead you through difficulties. Let the light in the painting and your inner intuitive wisdom be your guidance.

(8/25)