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Swornhaylinglei, 2009
Solo show at Ileana Tounta gallery, Athens, Greece
Swornhaylinglei is not a real word. It best describes the notion of an imaginary land.
A black, rectangular, box-like shell rising within the space of the gallery stands for a fantastical place,
a patch of ground, a site. Fragments align inside it to make up a narrative; an image that strains to draw
boundaries against the vast expanses of our inner world.
Random episodes come together to form a mural, with the stress falling upon a sense of the tragic surfacing
from amidst an absurd reality, of metaphysical anguish, of the fragility and vulnerability of existence.
The works probe the notion of the sacred, of identity, pain, power and death, referencing the writings of Kafka,
Thomas More’s utopia, religious parables and the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein as embodied by his work
Remarks on Frazer’s ‘Golden Bough’.
The space surrounding this box-like structure functions as an antechamber, where a piece of music playing in loop,
prepares the viewer to partake in a ritual.
Be just, (after Kafka) Doubting angels fall
I want to disturb the peace The landscape that overflowed my mind, part two
The Sacrifice Of Abraham
Thorn