Resurrection

I see them wrapped in improvised shrouds, in bed sheets accomplishing their final function, and I remember "the Portraits of Fayyum".

These are not faces from "the Portraits of Fayyum". They are also not imagined, nor do they look like the image I last saw. What I see in their faces is prior to their last image. It is prior to the bruises, the traces of violence and torture.

I, now, see them preserved alive in the moment of their ultimate beauty. The beauty of the victim.

The Portraits of Fayyum.

They are funeral portraits of the dead discovered in Egypt during the 19th century.

It is estimated that they were painted between 1st century B.C. and 3rd century A.D.

The realistic style of these paintings reflects a cultural mixture between Greek, Roman and Pharaonic influences.

The portraits were painted with colors and honey wax on small pieces of wood. Then, placed above the face of the mummy and wrapped with linen ligaments, so the dead will be recognized after his resurrection.

The dead don't look dead in the Portraits of Fayyum. They look as if they're resuming life where death is only a phase.

Rim El Jundi