LES MOTS QUI N’ETAIENT PAS DITS

Une installation sur l'îe de Gorée en 2014 - 2015, dans le cadre de "Formes et Paroles", une exposition organisée par le Musée DAPPER (Paris) Hors Les Murs.
Matériaux: feuille de plastique, bois, grillage.
Dimensions: 10m x 5m x 3m50 (longueur, largeur, hauteur)

WORDS THAT WEREN'T SPOKEN 
        
Behind the superficial appearance may just lie hidden some deep truth.  On the other side of visual images one may just find verbal words.
The landscape that I set up was completely fake and fussy.  Fake trees. Fake shrubs. Fake leaves. Fake flowers. They were all made of plastic fabric.
Yet these multi-coloured flowers hid within their petals intimate, sincere and profound words.  Words that could not be spoken by their unknown owners in front of the crowd.  Those were the unseen twists and turns of the soul. Those were the true stories.

My thanks to all who have sent me those words that were yet to be spoken, words that have now found their place within the flowers that strangers are now discovering on the other side of the ocean.
My thanks to Museum Dapper of Paris, the team of professional at the Museum and the residents of Goree island who have all worked together to enable the realisation of my work.

LES MOTS QUI N’ETAIENT PAS DITS

Derrière les apparences superficielles se cachent peut-être des réalités profondes. Au-delà des images il y a peut-être des mots.

Ce paysage est totalement artificiel et sophistiqué. Faux arbres. Faux buissons. Fausses feuilles. Fausses fleurs. Tous sont faits de plastique.

Mais ces fleurs de toutes couleurs cachent sur leurs pétales les mots intimes, sincères et profonds que les anonymes ne peuvent pas dire en public. Ce sont les replis de leur cœur. Ce sont les histoires véridiques. 

Merci à tous ceux qui m’ont envoyé ces mots qui n’étaient jamais dits. Ils ont trouvé maintenant leur place dans les fleurs que les inconnus d’au-delà des mers sont en train de découvrir.  

Merci au musée Dapper à Paris, son équipe et les habitants de l’île de Gorée pour leur soutien précieux à défaut duquel mon œuvre n’aurait pas vu le jour.

The exponents without number

 

“The exponents without number” is a collection of artworks in which images undergo a process of duplication. Created mostly using transparent materials, the images invade the space and pull the audience into a silent “play”.

This “play” of visuals is filled with the authenticity of a contemporary reality and the sincerity of real-life characters. So close yet so far away, the characters are trapped in their own narratives. Separated by the coldness of the plastic, they distance themselves from their own kind.

Silent, they stay inside the “play”, mimicking each other’s expressions, yet they can’t grow attached. Quite, they stay, merging until their originals and variations are abandoned. Together, they use their body language to express an inability to change. Immersed in their selfish universes, they are unable to find the rhythm of the outside world. Like invisible members of an orchestra, they appear soundless and motionless. The “play”, although silent, leads us into a more complex and conflicted reality.

A solo show at Heritage Space, Hanoi 2014.