Painting as communication with the deceased and other non-human beings

Simetinger, Tomaž (author)

The article examines painting as a practice of relating to the dead and other non-human beings in contemporary and historical contexts. Drawing on vernacular religion, it approaches these relationships not as fixed beliefs system but as experiences emerging through bodily perception, learning, and artistic practice. The article focuses on ethnographic research with a contemporary Slovenian painter, Ana, whose painting develops through sensitivity to presence rather than trance or mediumistic possession. Her practice is compared with the spiritualist painting of Georgiana Houghton and Hilma af Klint, where artistic creation relied on passive mediumship and the subordination of the artist’s body to spiritual agencies. The comparison reveals a shift from hierarchical models of revelation toward relational forms of creation, in which painting functions both as a liminal object and relational process through which connections between the living and the dead acquire temporary stability.

• Language: English
• Keywords: vernacular religion, spiritualism, mediumship, embodiment, perception, painting
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.01.2026
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 209-229
• Numbering: Letn. 29
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-187943
• UDC: 133.9:39
• ISSN on article: 1408-6271
• DOI: 10.3986/SMS20262911
• COBISS.SI-ID: 291339267
• Publication date in RUL: 16.09.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Studia mythologica Slavica
• Shortened title: Stud. mythol. Slav.
• Publisher: Znanstvenoraziskovalni center Slovenske akademije znanosti in umetnosti, Inštitut za slovensko narodopisje, Università degli Studi di Pisa, Dipartimento di Linguistica, già Istituto di Lingua e Letteratura
• ISSN: 1408-6271
• COBISS.SI-ID: 75272960

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Slikanje kot sredstvo za sporazumevanje z mrtvimi in drugimi nečloveškimi bitji

Abstract

Članek obravnava slikanje kot prakso vzpostavljanja odnosov z mrtvimi in drugimi nečloveškimi bitji v sodobnem in zgodovinskem kontekstu. Izhaja iz perspektive vernakularne religije, ki teh odnosov ne razume kot del zaprtih verovanjskih sistemov, temveč kot izkustva, ki nastajajo skozi telesno zaznavo, učenje in umetniško prakso. Članek temelji na etnografski raziskavi sodobne slovenske slikarke Ane, katere slikanje se razvija skozi občutek za prisotnost mrtvih in ne skozi stanje transa ali izgubo telesne avtonomije zaradi vpliva duhovnih sil. Njena praksa je primerjana s spiritualističnim slikarstvom Georgiane Houghton in Hilme af Klint, pri katerih je umetniško ustvarjanje temeljilo na pasivnem medijstvu in podreditvi umetničinega telesa duhovnim silam. Primerjava pokaže premik od hierarhičnih modelov razodetja k relacijskim oblikam ustvarjanja, pri katerih slika deluje hkrati kot liminalni objekt, slikanje pa kot relacijski proces, skozi katerega se med živimi in mrtvimi vzpostavljajo začasno stabilne povezave.

• Keywords: vernakularna religija, spiritualizem, verovanje, medijstvo, duhovni mediji, utelešanje, percepcija, slikanje

Projects

• Funder: EC - European Commission
• Project number: 101095729
• Name: The roles of the agency of the dead in the lives of individuals in contemporary society
• Acronym: DEAGENCY

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P6-0187-2022
• Name: Etnološke raziskave kulturnih znanj, praks in oblik socialnosti