Roman Košťál - Bad Luck to Kill a Sea Bird

This work draws upon maritime myths, where seagulls were believed to embody the souls of dead sailors—killing one was considered an omen of misfortune. The painting also references the superstition that lighting a cigarette from a candle’s flame dooms a sailor to death. A subtle yet striking detail is the tattooed anchor on the hand holding the candlestick over the deceased’s body. The lighting of candles at a deathbed was once a widespread folk funerary ritual.

Key Symbolic Layers:

Seagulls as lost souls – Echoes Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner, blending folklore and poetic doom.

Candlelit cigarette taboo – A nautical superstition emphasizing the sacred/profane divide between fire (life) and flame (death).

Anchor tattoo – Traditionally marks a sailor’s devotion to the sea, now repurposed as a funeral motif.

Vigil candles – Their flickering light mirrors the fragility of life in maritime culture.

The composition becomes a memento mori for sailors: the candlestick’s wax drips like ship’s rigging, while the gull’s shadow merges with the corpse—suggesting the soul’s restless flight. Košťál weaponizes these symbols to interrogate how superstition ritualizes grief.