Painting by Anton Mykhalchuk

This work is part of the series Signs for the Blind, which explores how symbolic systems shape — and limit — human thinking. Two identical figures exchange eyes, referencing the principle of “an eye for an eye.” What appears as justice becomes a self-perpetuating system of reciprocal violence, where symmetry turns into repetition rather than resolution. The figures hold flags reduced to empty frames, suggesting that ideological symbols often function as hollow structures, gaining meaning only through imposed narratives. Above them, an “eye of ideology” projects a triangular beam that defines a field of visibility in which enemies are recognized and violence becomes permissible. In this logic, vision itself is lost: by enacting retaliation, the figures demonstrate that they no longer truly see.