Death Rituals

Year: 2025

Framed: No

Orientation: Square

Size: Large

Medium/Techniques:

• Collage
• Photography

Art genres:

• Digital Manipulation
• Expressionism
• Illustration
• Mythological
• Photography

Subjects:

• Landscape
• Organic
• People
• Portraits

Styles:

• Expressionism
• Illustration
• Surrealism

Death Rituals is a haunting portrayal of the cyclical nature of war, history, and the rituals that glorify violence. Rooted in the ongoing conflicts around the world, the piece merges past and present, depicting the eerie overlap between historical militarism and modern warfare. In the foreground, a skeletal figure stands as both executioner and victim—death itself watching over the scene. Its posture suggests resignation, as if it has long accepted its role in this endless cycle of destruction. A crumbling ruin in the background evokes the echoes of fallen civilizations, suggesting that war is as ancient as humanity itself. To the left, uniformed soldiers stand in rigid formation, their presence symbolizing state power, military tradition, and the unbroken continuity of war. Their faces are expressionless, blending into the faceless machinery of armed conflict. Behind them, the sky burns with a cosmic horror- blood red patterns swirling like war torn landscapes expressing pumping adrenaline streaming in the blood and the chaos which follows conflict. The setting resembles an ancient temple, transforming this execution into a sacred act- a ritual performed countless times in human history. War, in its most tragic form, is not just violence but ceremony, repeated generation after generation under different banners and ideologies. It raises the questions: Are we doomed to perform these same rituals forever? Or can we break the cycle before giving up and becoming ghosts in the ruins of our own making?