Roxana Savin: On Heaven's Doorsill

On Heaven's Doorsill investigates the layered beliefs surrounding the theme of afterlife, delving into mythology, folk tales, and ancient traditions in rural Romania. The project is inspired by the artist's grandmother, Alexandra. She lived her whole life in a village in Romania, where time passed by the turning of the seasons and everyday existence unfolded in harmony with the ancient rhythms of the land. 

One night, long after she became a widow, as the earth held its breath, she had a peculiar dream. Her late husband appeared to her in silence. She asked him, “Have you come to take me across?” “Not yet,” he said. “I will be back for you at harvest time.” 
And so, she waited. 
The leaves turned gold, the hay was cut, and the fields swelled with ripeness. At harvest time, she entered the gates to the other side and rejoined him.

Her grandmother's dream reflects a particular worldview which is also shared by local customs, legends and myths, which the artist encountered while growing up, such as the Romanian folk ballad The Ewe. This is the story of a young shepherd who is warned by an enchanted ewe lamb about his imminent death. Faced with the news, the shepherd envisions his passing as an integration into nature's eternal rhythm, resembling the ending and beginning of the natural cycle. In this perspective, death is being accepted, and imagined as a cosmic wedding at 'Heaven's gate'; grief is subdued and the sorrow of “the great passing” is expressed not through anguish, but through the image of a falling star. 

The liminal space depicted in On Heaven’s Doorsill is one where the ordinary takes on an eerie quality, and the boundary between the living and the dead is fading. Rituals that pay tribute to the departed offer both solace and unease. The focus shifts inward, toward the inner, psychological terrain shaped by belief and its unsettling truths—reverence for and acceptance of death, the enduring weight of the past, and the lingering presence of spirits among the living.

PRESS ABOUT THE BOOK:
Financial Times Weekend/ printed version 31 Jan-1 Feb 2026
Flux Magazine
Design Scene
FK Magazine

Roxana Savin is a Swiss-based visual artist, working with photography and moving image. Originally from Romania, her diverse body of work is influenced by personal experiences and her rich cultural heritage, exploring themes such as identity, belonging, gender roles, status of women in contemporary society. Roxana has a MA Photography with Distinction by Falmouth University UK. Her work was widely exhibited in Switzerland, UK, France, Romania, Russia, Netherlands and published internationally. Her project I’ll be late tonight was nominated among Best projects of 2020 by Phmuseum and the photobook was awarded Silver Winner by Prix de la Photographie Paris (PX3) and Honorable Mention by Encontros Da Imagem Book Award. Her short film Rhythms of Restraint received SFAAF Best Experimental Film Award 2025.

Special Edition
Includes the book and one of the two prints above. The prints are signed and numbered on the back, printed in an edition of 10 copies, 20 x 30 cm, on Fujifilm Crystal Archive DP II Professional Matt.

Photography & text: Roxana Savin
Design & editing: Calin Kruse, Yana Kruse
Text proofreading: Jessica Mewburn-Lanitis
Lithography: Atelier KZG
Printing & binding: Future Format, Greece

The dummy for this book was created during dienacht Publishing Workshop in Zurich.