Interview transcript
Eliza Coleman: They are found objects and what they originally were, were either vases or pitchers or other ceramic objects that had been painted or made in a very traditional Korean manner. So, these found broken objects are then collected by the artist and then reassembled in a way that sort of morph into a new sculpture and create its own new form and shape, and meaning. But even with these broken elements she still wants to keep that intention that they are separate in some way, and that they have grown together to build a new purpose. So, there is gold detailing that highlights the connection of those broken ceramic pieces.
The sculpture that I’m standing in front of now, is by the artist Ghada Amer. She’s an Egyptian artist who has been living and working in the US for a number of years and considers herself an american artist. She started to do these sculptures a few years ago and the first one was called Hundred Words of Love and it was Arabic writing detailing a hundred deferent ways to say “love” in Arabic.
She was interested in this idea that in a culture where there is an understanding of not being publicly expressive of your love, yet there are so many ways to say “love” in Arabic against the Western understanding of love and how it’s completely appropriate to express it and show it and, yet there is just one way to say “love” in the English language. So that original thought process and dialog brought her to make these sculptures, and this one is just a selection of ways to say “love” in Arabic.
This interview © galleryIntell. Images courtesy of the Kukje /Tina Kim Gallery.
