Stepanka Peterka

Stepanka Peterka was born in Lake Arrowhead, California on July 4, 1983. She calls both Europe and USA home, having continuously being absorbed in both experiences all her life. Her educational background consists of a B.A. in Communications from Prague and an M.Sc. in Sustainability from Sweden. Stepanka is inspired by yoga, deep ecology, and progressing her artistic practice forward through experimentation and daily immersion. Currently she can be mostly found in Portland, Oregon, exploring, making, and researching. Today we take a look at her series titled, Saturn Return.

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Saturn Return

It is believed that at approximately 28-30 years of age, a person experiences an astrological phenomenon known as Saturn Return. As a distant planet, Saturn takes approximately 2.5 years to traverse one sign and 29 years to complete a cycle around the sun and entire zodiac, returning to the same position it occupied at a person’s birth, constituting a full orbit. This cyclical phase of ‘return’ is ostensibly marked by intensity, transformation, chronological stress, the process of self discovery and a sense of seizing truth.

At this age, and affected by some incredible impulse of self inquiry, I am inspired to explore some of the obscure ideas behind the alleged Saturn Return through the prism of art. A key concept held by astrologers is that a person crosses over a major threshold and enters a new stage of life, which involves evaluating foundations of self awareness. A personal foundation of self awareness is former Czechoslovakia, where I was absorbed for much of my life because of a Czech father.

By coinciding intervals, or ‘returns’ to Czech Republic, with Saturn returning in my constellation, this ongoing work contemplates the past as a gateway to the present moment. It regards our sensitivity to belief systems that arise from a desire to establish meaning for the Self. Under the influence, it is ultimately a deeply subjective experience of time, archetypes and inspiration.

To view more of Stepanka’s work, please visit her website.