Pavel Zubov

artistic interpretation of Pavel by Birdy (@rcbirdy on tumblr)

**Pavel** is a secondary character in the second season of Within the Wires. He was a sculptor, and one of the lovers of Claudia Atieno.

## Biography

Pavel met Claudia Atieno in 1965 in St. Petersburg. He was described by Roimata as her "sometimes-lover" and he frequently visited the house while she was there. Some of his works were featured in Archie MacPherson's collection.

In 1967, Claudia painted "Fingers Together" which depicted her and Pavel's hands clasped together. In the painting, Pavel's pinky finger was hidden from view, and some writers suggested that this was to symbolise the child that they had supposedly lost two months before birth. Roimata was certain that this was not the case, as Claudia had never carried Pavel's child. Instead, she said the hidden finger was symbolic of Pavel's adultery.

At some point after 1970, likely in 1972, Pavel confessed that he had four other romantic partners, each oblivious of the others, while he claimed to be monogamous. He expressed that he loved Claudia the most, and would leave the others for her. Claudia was enraged by this, throwing a salad fork at his head, and this eventually led to a breakup. Initially, Pavel refused to leave, but supposedly stayed gone on the third expulsion. In the time he was gone, he sent parcels to Claudia of what were apparently sculptures in progress; a fox's tooth, a rabbit's ear, a field mouse cut in half at the torso, with all of its blood drained.

Pavel associated himself with "The New New Revolution" and would often bring them to Claudia's parties, although it was unclear what the organisation entailed, and apparently never came to anything in particular.

In 1973, Pavel was identified as the last person to see Claudia before her disappearance. According to Roimata's account, he had arrived at the Cornwall house in late October while Claudia was at the market. They had acknowledged each other, but not spoken. Roimata did not claim to believe that Pavel was responsible for Claudia's disappearance.

He remained in possession of several of Claudia's works, and would often "find" paintings of hers in his house, such as "Self Portrait with Cat (redux)" and "Sunshine Afternoon" (1968). He also reportedly discovered the sketches from the "Unfinished Nightmares" collection in a crawl-space in the Cornwall house, although Roimata was skeptical of this and believed at the time that Claudia had passed these drawings on to Pavel to put in the exhibit.

When Claudia's date of disappearance changed from October 1972 to March 31 1972, he had been present at one of her parties just days before. Later on April 16, he reported her missing, and confusion was expressed by Roimata as to why he came back to Cornwall, and why Claudia agreed to see him (assuming she did).

## Additional info

* The name "Pavel" is the Slavic variant of the anglicised "Paul" meaning "humble"
* It is possible that Pavel actually reported Claudia missing on April 16 1973, not '72, as evidence suggests she not leave Cornwall until October 1972.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Season 2, Cassette #2: Ulster Museum (1973)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Season 2, Cassette #4: Bardo Museum (1975)
3. ↑ Season 2, Cassette #8: Ohara Museum of Art (1980)
4. ↑ Season 2, Cassette #6: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (1978)