[ SCROLL SERIES ]
The Scroll Series began in 2014 and is made up of seven large paintings ( 2 m x 3 m ) all completed in different environments using found-pigments sourced from that particular place and then turned into tempera . Each piece is the projection of accumulated or gathered memories from a particular Valise [1] experience and turns into a chapter in the abstracted and then archetypal story [2] I am weaving . By turning fragmented souvenirs of foreign places into an internal memory still life , each piece can bear witness to certain common themes of the human experience .
[1] Projet Valise , collaborative project / [2] Plato , Theory of Forms
I : Expulsion
III : Logos Awakening
[ BANQUET ]
The name Banquet stems from the French title for Plato’s Symposium . This book has been the main catalyst for this series . The final product is an encapsulation of accumulated fragmented stories turned into a common and modern mythology . The way I complete this objective is through something I call the Process of Fermentation , in which there are a total of seven steps . They are :
1. Valise : The ‘physicalisation’ or exploration of the unknown [3,4]
2. Tool or object : the typewriter or memory-banking system
3. Isolation or Abstraction
4. Creation of internal Memory Still Life
5. White Space: creation of Scroll
6. The Scroll rods
7. Referencing + closure
[1] Projet Valise , collaborative project / [2] Plato , Theory of Forms
THE BANQUET IS SERVED
A Symposium of Love staged by Mériam Korichi at A Night of Philosophy and Ideas ; an all-night festival of philosophical debate , performances , screenings , readings , & music co-presented by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and Brooklyn Public Library. The event took place from January 27, 2018 at 7pm to January 28, 2018 at 7am .
At 5am , I became the prologue for 6 philosophers [ Chiara Bottici, Skye Cleary, Simon Critchley, Samantha Hill, Massimo Pigliucci, Rossen Ventzislavov ] who debated their views on love based off of Plato’s Symposium while drinking red wine & black coffee on top of my final Scroll VII ( that I’d just completed on the cargo ship ) as their banquet tablecloth — a traditional Greek oud player [ Mavrothi Kontanis ] closed the debate as the audience slowly disappeared into the breaking dawn light at 7am … red stains leaving intoxicating marks inside the now empty library space ..
Plato’s Symposium is the catalyst behind my Scroll Series — and is a treasured bible I always keep at the bottom of my Valise as a reminder to embody the question of finding commonality & connectivity [ love~symposium ] within a continuously rotating frame . I met Mériam Korichi while both participating at the Mykonos Bienale in summer 2017 . I was carrying my Valise ( comme habitude ) as I was just about to board the cargo ship to create my final scroll . When she saw the book at the bottom of my suitcase - we immediately connected & the rest is history … the Scrolls live the question : what is symposium ? Meriam Korichi’s banquet at dawn broke open this question & gave response .
direct link HERE
DAGUERRE DIORAMA
The final piece is meant to act as an encapsulation of certain underlying themes in the human experience . Participation and place are essential to any piece I create . In this way , my pieces - which are unchanging hieroglyphs in themselves - can have a dialogue inside their changing spaces .
In September 2023 , I am participating in an artist residency at Footsbarn Theatre in the west of France where I am creating a Daguerre Diorama out of my 7 Scrolls . I am thrilled as this has always been the final stage in this project and I had given up hope of it ever coming into form until SADIE JEMMETT [ artistic director of Footsbarn ] invited me to her beautiful theatre to create it - MASSIVE THANKS goes to Sadie for believing in this wild project of mine - I am beyond excited …
A Daguerre Diorama is a theatre technique that predates the Daguerreotype and uses the play of light & shadow , and time & perspective to create the illusion of movement or change in an environment/set design - invented by Daguerre . During my residency , I will create my own interpretation of this technique using my scrolls as the set design . The final piece will become interactive ; viewers will literally have the opportunity to scroll through each chapter in order to read the whole story .
Updates will be posted on my blog