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L’uso dei materiali e il catalogo per Angelo Mangiarotti: la forma non si impone ma si ottiene per incastri, gravità e resistenza. Il libro Framing the Project (Corraini) ne ripercorre il gesto
ISSUE NO. 31
Each family’s own history has the power to inspire. This is known to Rachel Marsil, French-Senegalese artist based in Paris. She moves between textile art works and paintings in a sort of conversation between the two. Marsil’s first piece of art can be traced back down to the hunt for the far-off origin. Witnessing the regroupment of diasporic communities coming from different countries in the suburbs of Lyon is the starting point of the artist’s process of questioning herself.
«When you grow up in Europe and you are from two different places, you tend to ask yourself a lot of questions, especially if you have not been taught about your history» Marsil says. Shortly thereafter the artist will focus her practice on composing her own identity by looking at the pictures of her family history.
«At the beginning, I represented what I saw in the photos», Marsil says. Raised in France, the artist did not know Senegal before visiting in recent years. For this reason, family pictures played a vital role in the artist’s personal history and in the development of her own practice. As Marsil puts it: «I needed those pictures to have a geographical proof that I am related to the African continent as much as I am related to the European one».
The dual background made the artist shape the idea of identity as «a marketplace: an exchange of people and products». According to the artist, the border between her African and European roots is permeable and allows such exchanges that eventually define her works.
«There is the African representation of my origin that may be seen as an element of ‘exoticism’ and the French representation of what I experience every day. So, there are some links to Pablo Picasso and Amedeo Modigliani, and also elements of the French school, as my work is often compared to the practice of Paul Gauguin or Henri Matisse, but I relate to this duality in a more intimate way, as I question my own story», the artist explains.
This is when family pictures come into play. «I wanted to create something more personal, so I started painting those pictures and at that stage I also created the way to represent people as it is until now» she claims. The willingness of recreating a big family by representing people linked to each other was the way for Marsil to meet distant relatives she never met, and to take part in moments she never experienced. According to the artist, as a result of a cathartic process, the characters are similar among each other and this is also a way to mark them as part of the same big family.
«I did not start by browsing my family photos» she says. Her first piece of art can be traced back to 2017. While in Lyon, the regroupment of diaspora coming from different countries of the African continent in some neighborhoods of the city made her witness «the development of a sort of external exotic eye on these areas». Before turning her practice into a more personal one, Marsil’s first piece focused on the diasporic communities living in the suburbs, by representing masquerading people wearing Nigerian or Ivorian traditional costumes standing in such areas of the city.
Despite her attempt to analyze diasporic movement in a creative way, the artist never aimed at representing a single culture. «The colors, the shapes and the way I work with paintings and textiles can be referred to people from all over the world» Marsil highlights.
«I do not want to be who I am not; I only represent things that I see or experience» she adds. In other words, the aim of the artist’s practice is to ensure that the subjects of her works cannot be localized. In this way, her practice will be able to speak to a wider audience, allowing the public to project personal feelings and stories into her works.
As a textile designer, Marsil first explored fabrics and prints. Working on prints always requires a long phase of drawings and paintings, so the link between the two means is created at that stage.
As for paintings, the artist takes inspiration from her surroundings. «I may work on prints after having seen a pattern on people in the subways» she states. Just like in artworks, the artist shuns the idea of giving an identity to her productions, either textile works or paintings.
«I like the responsiveness between the two techniques» Marsil says. As a dialogue, artworks and textile works not only talk to each other but mutually complete the artist’s practice. According to the artist, while textiles are more vibrant, paintings gain in texture and materiality, so they compliment each other. The artist is at the epicenter of such exchange, as a conductor of hands able to do both.
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Rephrasing the well-known artistic experience of The Artist is present of Marina Abramović, in Marsil’s work the past is present. Nostalgia is the initial feeling of the artist’s creative process. Longing for moments that do not come back, or that could have been but never were, brings both the artist and the audience back to a comfort-moment. It is not a case that the idea of family is often linked to the one of a comfort-zone. Indeed, Marsil searches for her far-off roots in the attempt to experience what has not been experienced.
Each painting represents a scene where memories and dreams meet. «The process of creating represents both: Reinventing and bringing back a memory» Marsil says. As memory-producers, humankind deals with the past in various ways. In Marsil’s work, the memory is blurry, revised and goes through a creative process. Even if there is joy in the representation of people close to each other, for the artist there is also a bit of sadness, since the represented moments belong to the past or they never occurred.
Although started in the past, the practice of the artist is now slowly moving to the present dimension. At the beginning the essence was to be caught in the memory itself. «Now it is more related to the attempt to fix a moment», by catching the essence of the time spent with the beloved ones, «daydreaming» as she puts it.
In the digital era the intent of processing a single memory in a creative way passes through the technology we carry around with us every day: the mobile phone. «Recently I have started focusing on my own memories by looking at the pictures on my phone and representing friendly scenes like spending time with friends at the park, idealized moments» the artist explains.
«Intimacy is my main purpose» Marsil states. «I do not know the people I represent, I tend to picture characters and invent stories in family or friendly scenes to create this intimacy» she adds. In order to adhere to this statement, the representation of the eyes is peculiar in her works for at least three reasons.
Although, representing pictures the artist chooses not to paint the eyes of the characters in the scene. «Drawing the eyes would have meant that I know the person I am representing, but since I have mostly never met the people I represent in my paintings, I wanted to keep them in an imaginary and blurry dimension». According to the artist, painting something more dark and blurry would create a mystical figure. «So, it is not about the people we know, but the people we imagine. The people we project in the painting» Marsil adds.
Moreover, the eyes often catch the audience’s attention and drag them into the painting. This belongs to the second reason why the artist chooses not to define the contours. «Eyes have the power to give a lot of emotions, and I do not want the audience to be watched. I do not want to create real people staring at us» as the artist puts it. In Marsil’s practice, the representation of faces is based on a combination of lights and shadows.
As a result, the works of the artist happen in a space-time dimension, in the intermediate state between memories and dreams, reporting a floating moment in the painting not to let it vanish. «I would define them as made-up memories as it is a great halfway point» the artist says.
Thirdly, eyes are central in Marsil’s practice as she titled her exhibition ‘I would like to see myself in your eyes’. «It is referred to my grandmother who passed away one year ago. And it also refers to the intimacy you experience with members of your family» Marsil explains. However, the exhibition is also referred to the eyes of others as well. According to the artist, she recalls to the eyes that people put on her. «Often seeing the Senegalese-French, exotic girl, but there are things that people see in me and that I do not, because I am just being» she states.
The Galerie Cecile Fakhoury promotes contemporary art from Africa and the Diaspora through solo and group exhibitions, and participation in international fairs. Its first space was inaugurated in Abidjan, Ivory Coast in 2012, followed by the opening of a space in Dakar, Senegal in 2018 and a third gallery in Paris, France in 2021. With the Galerie Fakhoury the artist will take part in the fourth edition of the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair that will take place in Marrakech on 9-12 February. Following the participation in the fair, the artist will be shown in Cape Town for which she aims to create new shapes and to play with new materials in her artworks as she keeps building her own practice.
ISSUE NO. 31
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