Pandora’s Box

The subject of the image is the universal danger of nuclear war.
The figure of Pandora herself is a modern girl holding a box above her head, wearing gloves made of plutonium and uranium. This symbolizes a state of anticipating danger, a feeling of tension. The barely visible silhouettes of birds in the background are symbols referencing Hitchcock’s film “The Birds,” where danger is conveyed through the image of birds becoming a global threat to humanity. Hitchcock made this film during the Cuban Missile Crisis, so he was reflecting on the theme of global catastrophe. The tattoos on this girl’s body are also a sensual reference to the ancient Picts or other tribes who knew nothing of civilization. In this way, I draw a parallel: just as the Picts, who lived after the fall of the Roman Empire, knew little about how to direct the achievements of society and science, so too do we know little about how to direct the achievements of society and science. Instead of solving humanity’s problems, we channel scientific potential into creating weapons, which creates the threat of their use.