El Mundo Sans le Corps Pelagie Gbaguidi by Sulger-Buel Lovell

EL MUNDO SANS LE CORPS PÃ&#x2030;LAGIE GBAGUIDI

S U LG E R - B U E L LO V E L L

CONTENTS INTRODUCTION

Short essay by Simon Njami - English and French

04 - 05

Paintings from the series El Mundo Sans Le Corps | 2015

06 - 17

Drawings from the series El Mundo Sans Le Corps | 2016

18 - 26

Contacts

S U LG E R - B U E L LO V E L L

INTRODUCTION The solo exhibition El Mundo Sans le Corps questions the powerful notion of how the virtual nature of our lives consumes the sacred. It provokes questions of what happens to the physical body as carrier of memories, and propels the artist to become the teller of stories. The body of work comprises of eight large-scale paintings and 73 drawings. The work of Gbaguidi’s hand moves and mediates characters between acts of living and re-living present and past, and serves to suspend audiences in her vision of a ‘real’ mythology.

PLASTIC ORALITY

ORALITÉ PLASTIQUE

Ever since I have known Pélagie G., I had the impression of facing a Pythia. Her

Depuis que je connais Pélagie G., j’ai l’impression d’avoir en face de moi une

manner of addressing the world and the beings it comprises is unique. There

pythonisse. Sa manière d’aborder le monde et les êtres qui l’entourent est

is a certain animism or shamanism that remains unnamed. Her perception is

singulière. Il s’agit d’un animisme ou d’un chamanisme qui ne dit pas son nom.

essentially based on the senses. She possesses a corporal intuition that grants

Sa perception repose essentiellement sur les sens, une intuition du corps qui

her access to dimensions that are ungraspable to us. I often have the feeling

lui permet d’accéder à des dimensions qui échappent à la plupart d’entre nous.

that Merleau-Ponty composed this sentence exclusively for her: ‘My body

J’ai parfois le sentiment que Merleau-Ponty a rédigé cette phrase à son attention

simultaneously sees and is seen. That which looks at all things can also look at

exclusive : “Mon corps est à la fois voyant et visible. Lui qui regarde toutes choses,

itself and recognise, in what it sees, the ‘other side’ of its power of looking.’ It

il peut aussi se regarder, et reconnaître dans ce qu’il voit alors l’“autre côté“ de sa

is this very power that I sense in all the forms that she creates. The paradoxical

puissance voyante. ”C’est cette puissance là que je sens sourdre de toutes les

title of this series, El Mundo sans le corps, that plays on both language and

formes qu’elle crée. Et le paradoxe du titre de cette série, El mundo sans le corps, qui

on a possibility, implicates, perhaps, an invitation to dematerialisation. Our

joue à la fois sur le langage et sur une impossibilité, implique, peut-être, une invite

body is surely the repository of our sufferings, emotions, traumas, but it can

à la dématérialisation. Notre corps est certes le réceptacle de nos souffrances, de

also be something else. It can become this disincarnate element that allows

nos émotions, de nos traumatismes, mais il peut être autre chose. Il peut devenir

us to go beyond the human condition. The ‘powerful vision’ generated by the

cet élément désincarné qui nous permet d’aller au-delà de la condition humaine.

body is tied to the memory of things, like an ancient story to be actualised

La « puissance voyante » engendrée par le corps et liée à la mémoire des choses,

every day, and bypasses by far the limits of the body. I see in all of these works

comme une histoire très ancienne qu’il faudrait réactualiser tous les jours, dépasse

one of those philosophical tales belonging to a past that is still present in our

de très loin les limites du corps. Je vois, dans chacune de ces œuvres, comme

individual or collective memories. She delivers secrets that we must, like in any

un de ces contes philosophiques d’un passé encore présent dans nos mémoires,

other initiation, be ready to comprehend. It is a reflection that she promptly

individuelles ou collectives. Elle nous livre des secrets que nous devons, comme

invites us to initiate, as an interrogation of ourselves, an enigma on our origins

dans tout initiation, être prêts à comprendre. C’est la réflexion à laquelle elle

and future:

nous invite d’emblée, comme une interrogation sur nous-mêmes, une énigme

« Can we save memory for creating vital force?

sur nos origines et notre futur : « Can we save memory for creating vital force?

After trauma can we dream of a collective purpose?

Mutating oral traditions urge us to question the new aesthetic forms of orality,

transmission and writing: language form.

The digital revolution is leading to a revolution in our relation to the world,

language and all forms of expression. It merits further exploration in this field.

We must fight against collective amnesia to reconstruct an intelligible world. »

The intelligible world that the artist invites us to reconstruct is, in the original

Le monde intelligible que l’artiste nous invite à reconstruire est, au sens premier

sense of the term, a readable world, one that is beyond words and presupposed

du terme, un monde que l’on pourrait lire, au-delà des mots et des présupposés

historical or ideological notions. Orality is unique in the ways in which it

historiques et idéologiques. L’oralité a ceci d’unique qu’elle communique des

communicates meaning beyond language. Orality, which we too often associate

messages et des enseignements qui dépassent la langue. L’oralité, que l’on

with the spoken word, is also gestural, it is a way of being in the world and to

associe trop souvent, exclusivement, à la parole, est également une gestuelle,

communicate: ‘once upon a time’ is the open door to all kinds of journeys.

une façon d’être au monde et de communiquer à autrui : il était une fois, est

Pélagie Gbaguidi invites us to go back to the essential and to reinvent a new

la porte ouverte à tous les voyages. Pélagie Gbaguidi nous invite à revenir à

way of living-together that goes beyond the essentialism that limits bodies to

l’essentiel et à réinventer une nouvelle forme de vivre-ensemble, qui irait au-delà

systems of representation and other related concepts. The tools she employs,

de l’essentialisme des corps comme système de représentation et des concepts

which I have named ‘plastic orality’, allow the emergence of a contemporary

qui y sont le plus souvent attachés. Et les outils qu’elle emploie, que j’ai nommé

and pagan transubstantiation. Because the spirituality from whi ch her tales

« oralité plastique », permettent à une transsubstantion contemporaine et

are imprinted does not refer to any form of deity, but insists instead on what we

païenne de su rvenir. Car la spiritualité dont sont empreints ses contes ne fait

commonly share, our humanity.

référence à aucune forme de déité, mais insiste sur ce que nous avons tous en partage, notre humanité.

Simon Njami (Translation from French by Pietro Scammacca del Murgo)

Simon Njami

PÃ&#x2030;LAGIE GBAGUIDI PA I N T I N G S F R O M T H E S E R I E S E L M U N D O S A N S L E C O R P S | 2 0 1 5

Icon in Progress - After the Blue | 2015 | Acrylic and Pigment on Canvas | 260 x 165 cm

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EL MUNDO SANS LE CORPS A contemporary narrative form. - By PĂŠlagie Gbaguidi Can we save memory for creating vital force? After trauma can we dream of a collective purpose? Mutating oral traditions urge us to question the new aesthetic forms of orality, transmission and writing: language form. The digital revolution is leading to a revolution in our relation to the world, language and all forms of expression. It merits further exploration in this field. We must fight against collective amnesia to reconstruct an intelligible world. It took me several years to wonder about the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;phenomenonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of the memory of colonial and post-colonial history. The decolonisation of the imaginary is an approach which reflects my will to participate in the planetary challenges of the World's mental health. This approach sees the imaginary and creative power as a regenerative strength than can clear the mind in order to become more human and related to the environment, the territories and representations.

Icon in Progress - Map | 2015 | Acrylic and Pigment on Canvas | 260 x 165 cm

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Icon in Progress - XL | 2015 | Acrylic and Pigment on Canvas | 260 x 165 cm

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The unmasking of the process of forgetting in history, led me to the pen and brush. This readjustment of the imagination in my mind creates an urgent need to form informal relationships, across north/south, race, and sex. It is a quest for freedom, to break down barriers and free our ephemeral purpose. The search for a “new image” is an aesthetic quest. In this way, El mundo sans le corps , as a “naked writing”, reflects an urgency regarding the notion of how to express our experience, to be a witness of our narrative journey and to share it as a material. ‘Each told story can be a compass/gift for another’. I started the series of Icon in Progress in 2015, after being faced with the collective trauma in my last painting (DansleventreduserpentDanhomè - Divine Comedy). I confronted my own body to react to a horrific archive (seen at the Tervuren Museum after years of consultations). Some paintings are related to the previously described archives where the bodies were murdered. Then my imagination worked to rebuild them, clean up the toxic iconography with a new carnal approach of bodies.

Icon in Progress - Milk | 2015 | Acrylic and Pigment on Canvas | 260 x 165 cm

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Icon in Progress - Exit | 2015 | Acrylic and Pigment on Canvas | 260 x 165 cm

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Icon in Progress - After the Pink | 2015 | Acrylic and Pigment on Canvas | 260 x 165 cm

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At first, I left traces of my body on the canvas with brown pigment. The prints then became the beginning of a narrative. I asked myself about the concept of Time and Trauma. A question: has there been an interruption of the collective trauma ? What if the gender war was a taboo? Since we talk about gender equality in the 21st century, should it even be a debate ? One painting evokes a woman who carries her fallopian like a flagâ&#x20AC;Ś In a other one, I asked myself when did the Western world decided to take the lion as a symbol of nationalism? In this painting, the feline's tracks appear as questions of identity/identities. El Mundo sans le corps questions the powerful notion of the body today; how the virtual nature of our lives consumes the sacred. It provokes questions as to what happens to the physical body as carrier of memories, and propels the artist to become the teller of stories.

Icon in Progress - Time | 2015 | Acrylic and Pigment on Canvas | 260 x 165 cm

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Icon in Progress - After Marron | 2015 | Acrylic and Pigment on Canvas | 260 x 165 cm

PÃ&#x2030;LAGIE GBAGUIDI S E L E C T E D D R AW I N G S F R O M T H E P R O J E C T E L M U N D O S A N S L E C O R P S | 2 0 1 6