SILVIA KARAMFILOVA

“THE KEY WHICH OPENS DOORS” is part of the “Windows, Doors and Bridges” cycle of paintings and was created in 2018.

The key symbolizes our ability to gain access to those things of either a material or spiritual nature which are of the greatest significance to us. It is connected with gateways and portals, doorways to the unknown, knowledge, mysteries, powers, initiations, secrets, new ways, forbidden things and answers to curious questions. Wooden locks and keys were in use as early as 4000 years ago in ancient Egypt. In art, Christian saints (like Saint Peter), pagan gods, and medieval kings alike were depicted holding keys as symbols of their spiritual or temporal power.

Whether they unlock or close doors, treasure chests, and why not somebody’s soul and metaphorical heart, keys let us into unknown worlds. Sometimes they are the difference between freedom and prison, or life and death. In most cases we are the ones who hold the key deep down inside us and it is our own choice whether to use it or not. During the 13th-century the Persian poet, scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī Mevlana wrote “You suppose that you are the lock on the door. But you are the key that opens it.”

The painting is a symbol for our search into our inner worlds and experiences in the pursuit of the “keys” or solutions to the problems we encounter in our daily lives. It is not by chance that the ancient Egyptians left us the “Ankh”, an ancient hieroglyphic symbol that was most commonly used in writing and art to represent the word for “life”. Thus, from start to end our life is a series of choices “which door to unlock and venture into”.