Carnivals
«Fishing on a Tridacna Cosmetic-Vessel.» 2023. 49 x 34 cm, watercolour and archival ink on Arches cold pressed paper 300gm
Carnival and the Masquerade are about experiencing and participating in total theatre, out front, on the streets - music and dance, costume and masquerade. Carnival is a ritual of performance within which rites of purification, rites of conflict, rites of passage and rites of participation are all celebrated and enacted within the confines of an unprecedented and unique historical reality
a mass celebration of collective identity that exhibits an explicit desire to affirm that life and art are not separate.
Carnival is not only a superficial escape; Carnival as a form of catharsis makes it possible to endure oppression. The donning of a masquerade costume allows one to escape, not only from present reality into that other self, but it allows one to escape into a repressed self, shaped by a unique and terrible historical reality. Carnival also offers infinite possibilities for political mobilisation, subversion and more, therefore, it is also a contested festival in which contending political, religious, geographical, moral and social forces have license to subvert.
“We free ourselves of the burden of time and reason…the very notion of order disappears….chaos returns and free license reigns……everything is permitted: the normal pecking order is abandoned in the area of social distinctions such as gender, class, occupational differentials….men can disguise themselves as women, owners as slaves, poor folks as rich people. The military, the clergy, the magistrature can be made to look ridiculous. Children and mad people can take over control of things.through carnival, society can free itself of self-imposed norms”..
«Baalback’s Divine Breath.» 2023. 26 x 42 cm, watercolour and archival ink on Arches cold pressed paper 300gm
«Sink into Oblivion: The Waltz in Three Acts.», 2022. Triptyque 33 x 84 cm, watercolour and archival ink on Arches cold pressed paper 300gm
«The Inside of an Umbrella on a Full Moon.», 2022. Triptyque 33 x 84 cm, watercolour and archival ink on Arches cold pressed paper 300gm
«Let the Good Times Roll.», 2021-2022. Triptyque 28 x 99 cm, watercolour and archival ink on Arches cold pressed paper 300gm
«The Green Piper: A stranger arrived on a beautiful evening, from his pipe he was making strange sounds.» 2021. 28 x 33 cm, watercolour and archival ink on Arches cold pressed paper 300gm
«Le Carnaval du Jour.» 2021. 28 x 33 cm, watercolour and archival ink on Arches cold pressed paper 300gm