SONGLINES & DREAMTIME (Life-lines II)

Detail of Dreamtime, 2012,  cut paper, painted wood,
silk threat, seize variable

These are images of my installation Life-lines II for the Biennale of étend'ART 2012 in Étang-sur-Arroux France. The given theme was L'homme, matière & couleur. As with the work Life-lines shown in Saulieu in 2012, Life-lines II are choreographic marks or trajectories that our life cuts through. These marks or trajectories are as life cycles, they refer not only to the present, but also to the time before and after life. 

Installation view of Songlines  nr. 1, 2012, cut paper, stenciled
paper, coloured pencil drawing, seeds, 60x70cm 

Songlines  nr. 1 (detail)

The Australian Aboriginals  talk about Dreamtime. In Dreamtime the patterns of life are established - the creation of the world -. The dreaming and travelling trails of the spirit-beings are Songlines. Songs and dances are related to death and regeneration.

Detail of Dreamtime cut paper, painted wood,

silk threat, seize variable

Installation view of Songlines nr. 2 & 3, 2012, paper,
embroidered tisue, stenciled paper, seeds, 60x70cm each

Songlines nr. 2, 2012, paper, embroidered cloth, 

seeds, 60x70cm 

 Installation view showing elements of Dreamtime, Medusa, Songlines
and Two Hei-tiki's going North

Two Hei-tiki's going North, 2008, acrylic, pencil,
on canvas, 80x80 cm 

An other reference to Austral-Asian or South-Pacific mythology is present in the painting Two Hei-tikis going North. The Hei-tiki is considered by the Maori people in New Zealand to be the first man. It is sculpted in greenstone, bone or wood and worn around the neck as a pendant by a person with great mana (a spiritually important person). It is passed on from one generation to the next.

Installation view of Songlines nr. 3, 4 & 5, 2012, cut paper, seeds,
stencils /inc, graphite rubbing/pencil drawing, 60x70cm each

  Installation view showing elements of Dreamtime and Eulogy in Blue
(nitting, streched on streched canvas, printed paper strips,variable seize)

In Eulogy in Blue an important Polynesian curator, Jim Vivieaere, who has done much to improve the perception of contemporary Polynesian art, is commemorated in the lines on small paper strips.

Installation view

One element of Medusa, 2012 seize variable

Medusa can be seen in the light of Grec mythology . She is full of ambiguity, on the deviding line of life and death. Medusa, a young beauty, raped by Poseidon, then turning into a monstrous woman with her hair transformed into serpents. Even after decapitation, her eyes still have the power to petrify those who look at her . In one of the muliple versions, Medusa’s blood spilt onto seaweed formed the corals in the Red Sea, also the vipers in the Sahara grew from spilled drops of her blood.

detail of Dreamtime, 2012