Of Heroes and Names Lost - Yakob-Aziz König

The concern with ones own mortality is a fundamental experience of human life. Religious texts, myths and works of art are full of references to immortality and the striving to it. Paradise, where humans can spend eternity happily, the peaches of immortality in Chinese mythology and the myth of the fountain of youth are examples for that.

In Ernest Becker’s The Denial of Death, he describes humans as symbolic creatures with self-consciousness, a name and a life story. He is aware that he will die one day as do all natural beings, but has a hard time coming to terms with it. To appease this cognitive dilemma, he builds up his symbolic self, so that when his worldly body perishes, he gains symbolic immortality and the status of a hero.

This is the subject matter of my work Of Heroes and Names Lost. I tackle this on three different levels. Represented here are cultural historical symbols who are connected to immortality, statues, whose motives are replaced with colors to depict the striving for symbolic immortality and a portrait of the cemetery of the nameless in Vienna.

On this cemetery, unidentifiable drowned from the Danube and victims of suicide were buried between the 17th century and 1940. Since the 1930s, the family Fuchs has been voluntarily responsible for the groundskeeping of the cemetery. Part of this portrait are as well repros of copies of the book of the dead. The original is kept by the central administration of the viennese cemeteries, but is missing since they moved location. This part of my work is representative for the physical as well as symbolical death of the individual.

*Die Auferstehungskapelle auf dem Friedhof der Namenlosen, errichtet 1935. Wien, Österreich, Dezember 2022.*

Josef Fuchs, groundskeeper of the cemetery of the nameless. Since three generations, the family Fuchs takes care of the cemetery. Vienna, Austria, August 2022.

Rositta Liedl-Fuchs in the shed on the cemetery of the nameless. Vienna, Austria, December 2022.

Inside the chapel of resurrection on the cemetery of the nameless. There are regular masses once a month. Vienna, Austria, December 2022.

The inside of the shed on the cemetery of the nameless. It is used as a storage space. In the right corner, the old sign of the cemetery of the nameless can be seen. The inscription states, that this location existed from 1840 – 1900 with 478 graves, but the earliest graves in the area were established in the 1700s. Even though the cemetery is inactive since 1940, there is still one coffin left. The crucifixes are donated by the Vienna Central Cemetery in case replacements are needed. Vienna, Austria, December 2022.

The peacock originates in Ceylon and India, but was brought to the greek island of Samos in the antiquity, where he became a sacred bird in the temple of Hera. The romans subsequently used the peacock as a symbol for Juno, Hera’s roman counterpart, and was bred starting the second century BC. In Greco-Roman funerary depictions, it can often seen in connection or inhabiting paradise, not just decoratively but acting as its own symbol, often times next to grapes or vineyards, which held the implication to paradise as well. Through this connection with grapes, the peacock in time was also associated with Dyionisus and his roman counterpart Bacchus. Diyonisus’s Wine, also called „the blood of Dyonisus“ was sometimes thought to grant Immortality, as described by Euripides in 405 BC in The Bacchae (Sinusoid). The connection between peacocks and immortality can be seen here. The symbol of the peacock as a bird of the paradise and symbol of immortality was picked up by pagan religions as well and can be found in tombs in for example Serbia, and was also transported in early christian art, notably the byzantine era. The peacock from there on persisted in christian art as a symbol of immortality. Berlin, Germany, November 2022.

Three of the last graves on the cemetery. All three of those buried here died during the building of the port of Albern. Vienna, Austria, December 2022.

Greenhouses on the fields of Albern. Vienna, Austria, December 2022.

The fountain of youth is a mythical source of miraculous waters, which grants rejuvenation and immortality to the one bathing in it or drinking it’s water. The earliest description can be found in middle eastern records, early greek, roman and christian literature doesn’t describe such a fountain. In the middle ages, the myth spread throughout Europe, most notably in the publication Roman d’Alexandre, which tells the story of Alexander the Great being led to the fountain of youth in an Arab country. Dortmund, Germany, November 2022.

The hut on the cemetery of the nameless. In times where the cemetery was still active, the bodies would be examined here and identified if possible before being buried. Nowadays, the hut is being used as storage. Vienna, Austria, December 2022.

Memorial for the unknown soldier in Albern. Vienna, Austria, December 2022.

In Chinese mythology, the peaches of immortality are guarded by Xi Wangmu, the Queen mother of the west, and grow in her garden on Kunlun mountain. They take 3000 years to grow and 3000 years to ripen and then are consumed by the immortals during a celebration to retain their immortality. The celebration takes place in a hall with golden walls. Kunlun mountain is at the margins of heaven and earth, and the tree on which the peaches of immortality grow serves as a connection of the two. Xi Wangmu has the power of creation and destruction as well as the control over the lifespan of every living being on earth. She also reigns over the dead and the afterlife and can grant immortality.

Book Dummy

Swiss brochure hardcover
94 pages 50 color photographs 21 monochrome photographs