Sawa

My entry is inspired by a polish fairy tale I read as a child. Written by Wanda Chotomska "Wars & Sawa Legend" (https://tinyurl.com/khwa3wjy) was one of my favourites.

In the story Sawa is a young, beautiful girl with a kind heart, who stands up to an evil sorcerer. He hates anything outside his river realm. When he comes out of the water the sky starts to turn into flames. He burns trees and destroys anything beautiful or weak in his eyes. Sawa happens upon the destruction and with a bird's nest in her hands, begs the sorcerer to stop. He punishes her for her disobedience, but wants to keep her for her beauty. He turns her into a river mermaid to live with him forever. I always loved her strong character and guts.

My smooth covered stays reflect her pure heart with delicate sky blue colour, but also foreshadow her dark future by a fish scale wings at the bottom. I wanted to portray her in between her transition. I added turquoise beads to reflect her love for nature and bring to mind depths of the river and undoubtedly riches that the sorcerer would try to win her over with. Luckily she gets rescued, by a brave young fisherman - Wars. Sawa is avenged and returns to being a human. They live with Wars happily ever after, founding the city of Warsaw - named after them. Till this day a mermaid is a symbol of Warsaw."