The Secret Handshake

Marrian Abound

Opening 04.05.16 6-8pm
Artist Talks 26.05.16 6-7pm

This exhibition is part of an on going interest in mimetic theory. Aristotle, adapted the term to his idea that artistic pursuits, particularly tragic drama, mimic the people, places, and conditions that we find around us in the real world. The anthropologist Michael Taussig draws on Walter Benjamin’s ‘On the Mimetic Faculty’ (1933), describing the mimetic faculty as “the nature that culture uses to create second nature, the faculty to copy, imitate, make models, explore difference, yield into and become Other. The wonder of mimesis lies in the copy drawing on the character and power of the original, to the point whereby the representation may even assume that character and that power.” In particular, Taussig suggests that appearance is power and that the ‘duplicating power’ of image is also a self-transforming power and hence, is a power for healing: (Taussig 1993: 126).

Collaborating with my 5 sisters and brother in this artwork looking specifically at the rituals around death and mourning in the Lebanese culture, examining repertoire, modifications and adaptations of various rituals.