Tout ce qui brille n'est pas de l'or
2019
rubber, gold leaf, sand
Size Variable
About
« Tout ce qui brille n’est pas de l’or » acts as the starting point of a contemporary mythology of Exile inspired by a 2-month research in the Island of Lesbos.
When walking In a public beach near the port frequented by locals, the artist stepped onto the wreckage of an inflatable boat half buried in the sand - a boat similar to the many used by migrants to reach the Greek shore and that local authorities may still have forgotten to dispose of. She decided to collect and gold leaf pieces of this boat and use the vestige of a the frightening journée that brought these anonymous passenger to the island as a starting point to build her own mythology of this tragic but all so common event - a mythology that revisits the whole story of the island and brings together elements of the current refugee tragedy with references from the Greek own history and the population exchange of the the early 20ies that brought million refugees back to Greece.
« Tout ce qui brille n’est pas de l’or » appropriates the imagery of summer holidays and the legends of old treasure hidden in the sand and, using some irony, bring back inside this monolithic perception of the sea, elements that remind the view of the other realities this natural force carry in it.
Exhibitions
2020 LE GRAND TOUR | CURATOR: MARIE DEPARIS-YAFIL | CENTRE D'ART H2M | BOURG EN BRESSE, FRANCE