Klára Sedláčková / Klára Sedlo↓

About the work

Most of us view rituals as a part of religious practice; however, ritual behavior is also present in modern secular society and rather curious situations. People suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) tend to relate to the world via fixed rites – and if these are disturbed in any way, it can result in severe anxiety. The subject of the triptych by Klára Sedlo, who has her own experience with the disease, is three examples of such behavior. The first presents the generally known OCD symptom – the panic effort to organize one’s life and setting along severe lines. The second illustrates a story of the artist’s friend who is, anytime outside her home, obsessed by recording how many times she entered rooms, while the final number must not be unpaired, for it would end up in something embarrassing. The third painting is about the artist’s personal life. It deals with the motif of the pagan Slavic goddess, Morana, associated with death and rebirth, and the ODS panic condition, since obsessive fear of death ranks among frequent anxieties of those affected by the disease.