The sacred has always been put opposite to the worldly. Religion, especially Christianity, was an all-pervading covenant which guaranteed verity and conscience and contrasted with falsity of dar al-fana. Art in its turn being deprived of any independence during dozens of centuries used to be a guide of this world. Not only was religious iconography a vessel for the divine, but also an instrument for demagogy. Contemporary art has not a single connection with the sacred and very often even shuns it, nurturing its often imaginary sovereignty.

There is no such a division into the sacred, the heavenly and the wordly in the Ossetian religious culture. There is no binary here, and hence there is no struggle as well. This is also illustrated by the three-part cosmogonic structure of the universe, the upper level of which is the sky, the middle one is the earth, and the lower — water or subterranean. Each of them is the most fundamental part of the global harmony, which is manifested in the very view of the world mythologically united, on the one hand, like "everything is in everything", and on the other hand, extremely rational and coherent reflected in panentheism that combines the features of theism and pantheism. The absence of dichotomies leads to the absence of the repressed, confirmed by the dense interweaving of the mortal into the very fabric of life, the veneration of a woman on an equal footing with a man, the opportunity to create a piece of art in the dzuar (from Ossetian "dzuar", "sanctuary"). Paradoxes appeared complicated for a present human to even just think about.

Diane Schliman's project "Idauæg", having an intimate dialogue with this ancient and gorgeous culture, as well as its bearers, tells about Zadaleski Nana, a highly admired historical character who the locals call the mother of all Alanian people.

According to the legend, in the XIV century during the invasion of the Golden Horde, a hard period in national history, full of the horrors of war and threats of genocide, Nana gathered the surviving orphans from the lands of the Alans, brought them to Zadalesk and hid them in a cave. Nana didn't want to give orphans to local families and the inhabitants of Zadalesk built a house for them which later became a sacred dzuar. In the 90's the dzuar was restored due to the efforts of local residents.

Traditionally "Idauæg" is a wish, a sacred amulet with an emphasis on energy and physical protection, which according to tradition was given by the oldest woman of the village. Although in the Ossetian religion God is all-pervasive, however at the same apophatically inexpressible through a specific image. The role of sound and words is titanic. Dzuar personifies and patronises truthful speech. It is not for nothing that "Idauæg" "sounds" with the voices of women who still speak the ancient Digor dialect.

The sculptural part of the installation was created by the artist with the help of local women from felt, a traditional material. The silhouette of the sculpture was chosen basing on the study of Ossetian iconography and the image of the World Tree. The symbolism of this image has absorbed magic-sacral, purifying and tutelary semantics. It's one of the most common plots of the Ossetian ornament and is reflected in the Nart epic.

When the visitor comes into a felt dome, the warmth and softness of the material, the lulling sounds of women's voices show a feeling of unconditional maternal love and a desire to save either as in the core of a tree or as in the womb. Here you need not only to look, but above all to be, to feel, because in Ossetian culture it's not the thing that is important, but the ritual, prayer, the process of bodily aesthetic diving into the world. Being inside makes you feel a initial connection with the mother, because their voices are the first thing children hear, the word "mother" is the very first. No wonder that in some cultures it is the woman, mother, grandmother are the bearers of knowledge and tradition. "Idauæg" is a wish for security to the entire world, which now needs love, warmth and care more than ever.