PEOPLE ON CARPETS
Assemblage, installation, oil on carpet.
A series of works.
To be away from home and yet to feel oneself everywhere at home; to see the world, to be at the centre of the world, and yet to remain hidden from the world - impartial natures which the tongue can but clumsily define. The spectator is a prince who everywhere rejoices in his incognito /Charles Baudelaire
The work process of these pieces is an integral part of their essence. Using Carpets, some handmade, some machine-sewed, preferably second-hand carpets, firstly changing their physical place by hanging them vertically on a wall. This action changes the carpet’s definition, which is now physically separated from the viewer, it is given a different point of view and usage, which implies the transformation of its meaning and role.
The second act is shaving a silhouette inside the carpet, until reaching the base of each knot at the bottom while keeping the back of the carpet whole. Then, painting the figure inside the carpet on a thin piece of fabric attached to the base, in such a way that the painting is embedded inside the carpet, and the painted figure becomes one with it.
The people on these carpets were all born in a land other than their current one, all are immigrants, and are painted inside a carpet which is also an immigrant- imported or brought from a different land. So the collage exists in various layers, as a fusion of cultures and traditions on one hand, and as an emphasis upon the unrooted, isolated, unblended, lonely human experience.
These figures are in one aspect completely cut from their origin, separated from their environment, and reflect inwards. They are singles, individuals, not representing any group or nation. And at the same time, they are completely infused within a rich whole world of complexity and tradition. They are part of an object which represents a sense of place, many times a place perceived as "home".
In a reality where the focus is upon religion, culture, land, origin and identity – which are all pillars of a man-made structure of so much suffering. This series of works reflects and invites to observe and question the sometimes absurd unsuccessful yet Inevitable infusion between different layers, elements, and concepts, which perceive themselves as different from each other, but are all connected and intertwined.
