Clorinde Durand
Medusalith amaquelin - Installation - 2009
presented as part of the exhibition Panorama 11
Installation
Medusalith Amaquelin is a strange guest. A body neither alive nor dead, placed in a setting and submerged beneath her long hair. this hybrid form, oscillating between the human and the animal, creates a tension between our real universe and the phantasmagorical world to which she seems to belong. At first sight, the figure, partly buried beneath an enormous mass of hair masking her face, appears tranquil enough. Devoid of facial expression, she nonetheless expresses emotional reactions by the simplest of means: if only by imitation, she does pay attention to the visitors - they are thus not the sole observers. Motionless, in a fixed position, behaving rather like a sick animal, she scans any intrusion by slowly moving her head in a familiar if unexpected manner. She appears to respond to the presence of the viewer according to some nonverbal protocol. This scene opens a breach and generates an enigmatic world. it places the viewer in a zone full of uncertainty: is this half-hidden presence awake or asleep? Alive or dead? Human or animal?.. A hybrid atmosphere that spawns an aborted narrative.
