Returning from a trip to New York last year Faé A. Djéraba, visual artist and photographer, was struck by the standardization of the relationships that we have with each other, of a city, of a country, from one continent to another… the smartphone screwed in our hands, an extension of our being, looking towards a virtual box, selfies …
The phenomenon of social networks and the virtualization of our relationships raises questions in more ways than one, notably in the way they transform us and transform our link to each other.
She herself, user of all the dematerialized networks that technology offers us, understood at this precise moment how much this was transforming us and posed fundamental questions of freedom and personal identity. From there was born the VIRTUAL CIRCUS PEOPLE project: Crossed stories
This great global virtual circus, which paradoxically pushes individualism in its most outrageous aspects, has led the artist to resume the foundations of our relationship with the world, in our daily lives.
The project is made up of series of 19 polaroid available in diptychs and triptychs.
Each of the 19 series presented by the artist crosses our human and virtual condition. She explores the human being as a social and sensitive being through the themes of meeting, friendship, self-image, seduction, emotions, childhood, theater, music, aspirations or even fears …
Through her project, Faé A. Djéraba does not take a stand against technology, which she considers to be a formidable tool at our service. However, for the artist, it should not substitute our virtual relationships for our identity, nor for the wonders of the tangible world.
Faé A. Djéraba used a red dummy as a recurring object and the main character in her works, a symbol for the artist of our standardization and a specular image of the changing individual. The other white and headless models are neutral presences, metaphors of what surrounds us, that we feel but that we do not see. Living models are hidden, their identity hidden, their behavior uninhibited.
For the artist, the Polaroid (IMPOSSIBLE I-1 and Instax) is an extension of her imagination. The use of this instant film turns out to be a surprise with each shot, which must be accepted as it is.
The territory is also a very important subject for Faé A. Djéraba. The Franco-Tunisian artist has lived in Italy for 30 years, in Finale Ligure in Liguria which is the scene of her interior theater. Each of her series was made in a specific place that the artist regularly explores.
During the difficult period that we are going through, this virtual world has proven to be precious for keeping the link with our loved ones, for developing creative forms of solidarity … However this forced confinement, made us feel, perhaps for a long time, the urge to be with others. For the artist “We have to live in our time and find this balance, satisfying respectful of the individual and our environment.”
Margalit Berriet – Marie-Cécile Berdaguer curators of the exhibition
Faé A. Djéraba was born in Tunisia, grew up in France and lives and works in Italy. Through her practice, she is interested in questions of identity, women, their bodies, their obsessions, the violence they suffer. She is also interested in the links between genetics and heredity. Visual artist and designer, she works with volume, painting and sculpture, and has a particular interest in the fabric medium, linked to her family history. She has collaborated with the world of theater and fashion for which she has produced scenographic projects. Recently she has been working with photography, notably in the last two projects carried out in New York, Milan and London.
Faé A. Djéraba : Gens Virtuels Circus – Histoires croisées
06/27- 05/09/2020
Mémoire de l’Avenir
45/47 rue Ramponeau Paris 20
FRIDAY JUNE 26 – 3 p.m., 4 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Visit of the exhibition in the presence of the artist.
