Sisyphus
2004, Bronze 280cm high
What else could the wisest and most astute of mortals wish for other than
cheating Death when he comes to call? Only by being able to experiment with
every aspect of what is possible would his experience be limitless. Sisyphus
deludes himself into believing he can cheat death. Sisyphus, the rash son of
Aeolus and Enarete, many times imprudently defied the will of the Gods of Olympus
for his own personal gain. After becoming King of Corinth in exchange for a
beautiful fountain for his own city, he revealed to Asopis that the person
who stole his daughter away was none other than Zeus. Furious, the king of
the Gods punished Sisyphus by ordering his death, but Sisyphus managed to chain
up Thanatos, God of Death, thus perturbing the entire order of nature. People
no longer died on earth and the Lord of the Underworld could not bear to see
his empire so deserted and silent. When he was freed and Sisyphus like everybody
else became mortal again and died, the Gods reserved for him, down in Tartarus,
the exemplary punishment that we all know. He was forced to drag a big boulder
up a mountain but never make it to the top, for eternity. This inhuman task
had to be carried out in perennial solitude.
 In this piece of work Anna Chromy imagines freeing Sisyphus, and giving some
meaning to the absurdity of his fate by persuading him to no longer be alone.
Being a father constitutes the active decision with which he takes on his extreme
battle with death. That is why in this piece, as a team, three figures peddle
uphill towards an unknown peak. This shows how consuming, but at the same time
how light the labour of people who love each other can be. Each person gives
to the other, the strength of their own youth. At the front is Sisyphus, the
father, pushing with the momentum of a bird who has just taken flight. What
he is now forced to lift is no longer a shapeless mass but instead he is straddling
the wheel of a complicated civilisation which he must use in order to save
his loved ones. In the middle, totally engrossed in herself, is Sisyphus’ wife.
She appears to be floating in the enigma that is their condition. Only this
conscious effort on their part allows the innocent child to be carried along
in their trail. All the while the child is growing up and playing in a childhood
which is once again free and innocent.
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