 |
| The Sheltering Word (v) |
Irini Gonou's latest exhibition 'A Tale of Two Cultures' combines Greek
and Arabic cultures, highlighting in particular the ancient
civilisations with the use of the 'protective written word', amulets,
tunics and symbols. Irini wanted to keep the pieces and the exhibition
in line with that of a museum, not bringing it out of its context and
focusing on that period of time. Although the two are distinctive, they
are joined by history and the sharing of the Mediterranean sea, and as
Irini has pointed out "..the wider Mediterranean area is charged
culturally with supernatural powers" as we can see through her work. 'A
Tale Of Two Cultures' is currently neing exhibited at
Lahd Gallery in London.
NM: There is an endearing
quality when 2 cultures are used together in some art form, the experience is
so enriching. Your work combines both Greek and Arab cultures; what did you
want to highlight through using the two together, especially in a period where
both are faced with their own crises and going through major changes?
IG:
I don't know how some things
affect us more than others but old civilizations and especially those that have
left their traces around Mediterranean Sea have always a big attraction for me.
"Our Sea" joined its people together. The threads of its history are
mixed, its memory confused, and that's what I want to highlight in this
exhibition. Two cultures, the Greek - the one I was born in, and the Arabic -
the one I adopted, with their distinctive indigenous scripts, are here in
dialog with their continuous and life-affirming exchanges and their
cross-fertilisation influences. Actually, both in social and economic crises, I
think they benefit from having a look to their collective cultural memory, as
the mirror-shield Perseus used to extinguish Medusa.
NM: What is the story
behind your latest exhibition "A Tale of Two Cultures" and what do
you want to evoke in your audience?
IG: This exhibition is a "magic" wandering into the healing
and protective power of the written word as a specific cultural idiom and as a
dialogue between the Greek and Arabic culture. Some objects are inspired from real
"magical" objects I have seen in the museums and then transformed in
my own way. There are others that I invented totally trying to make them as
they would be real. The whole collection is a kind of quasi-museum. When I
exhibited some of them at the
Museum of Islamic Arts in Athens between the
museum's displayed objects, some people were confused thinking them real. Using
entirely natural materials such as textiles, fired clay, reeds, leaves, seed
pods, eucalyptus bark and linen or cannabis twine, I make my own
interpretations of amulets and protective clothing, magic bowls and talismanic
objects.
 |
Eucalytpus Leaves
|
NM: When did you start this project?
IG: This project began in 2007. Some of the objects have been shown at
my exhibition "Al Khatt, the magic script" which took place at the Museum
of Islamic Arts of Athens in 2008. Others were made in 2011-12. At The
Museum, the written protection was only about Arabic script. For my recent
exhibition at the Lahd Gallery, I created a dialogue between Greek and Arabic
scripts. In between I was working on the Greek magic objects.
NM: I am interested in your
"exploration of the protection of written words". This is very
mystical and actually, in mysticism, we are taught that the power of words;
both written and spoken orally are in fact very real and once something is
written or spoken, it is forever there. What did you discover in the power and
protection of written words?
IG: I think for me everything began the day I discovered in the British Museum, two extraordinary tunics - the batakari
tunic adorned with amulets, and the rigan
yaki talismanic tunic both "made" for the Ashanti people of
Ghana, inscribed with Quran verses and magical diagrams. I was completely
amazed and consider these two pieces to be my initiation into the "magic
world". The Arabic words, letters and numbers are considered in the
Islamic world to be of a divine essence and the written word to provide
protection. The protective properties of small pieces of paper composed by the
marabou in West Africa in order to protect his patient are generally
well-known. Likewise Ethiopian magic scrolls and Greek magic papyri, to
report only some examples of an unending list. So the written word, in the
larger Mediterranean area, is charged culturally with supernatural powers and
linked mystically to the elements composing the universe. Actually in our
contemporary societies we are also attracted to the word and its magic power in
many different ways. Words are everywhere. We are definitely the composers of
our own magic universe. Writing down our intimate thoughts, spelling the lyrics
of our favourite song - the enchantment is there!
 |
| Big Protective Tunic |
NM: Do you personally believe in the protection amulets and symbols contain?
IG: I believe in the healing qualities of nature and I also believe in
the power symbols are charged with through collective memory and cultural and
traditional process, as well as the "animation" of shaped object
through hand made work. Nature's respect, patience, and the amount of time
spent on each one of these objects are operating positive emanations.
NM: The more we can embrace
each culture, showing them side by side, as we see in your work, it is very
clear that the essence of it can never be threatened or erased. Cultures,
especially when combined together, can play a large role in the healing process
in a world where so much turmoil is present. What are your thoughts on this?
IG: I think that we artists, like medicine men, marabous or Bamana
priests of our contemporary societies, have to revisit the symbols again
in order to reactivate ancient bonds to stimulate the healing process
in our societies in turmoil.
NM: Now, on to more
technical questions. I saw a lot of natural materials being used in the various
pieces. I hear a lot of different artists who work with natural materials and
stone say how much they feel a connectedness to the earth and our planet in
general. What are the reasons for you?
IG: Truth is that working with natural materials you are feeling the
pulse of nature and this process provides you with a long lasting feeling of
well being. The more you delve into exploring nature's secrets the tougher
are the challenges, because you are in an immensity of new experiments with
"magical" properties. Working on my magic bowls, amulets, protective
talismans and charms, I used fired clay, reeds, eucalyptus leaves and barks and
calabash seeds. I also made my own natural inks and decoctions. None of these
materials could be bought and everything had to be found and made from scratch.
Same for my inscribed magic scrolls and protective tunics. Working on these raw
materials, I was at the same time meditating on their
medical-magical-protective properties and symbolic meanings.
NM: I saw a very
interesting piece using cannabis strings, which you told mentioned that they
came from China. You also used calabash seeds and Aloe Vera dried flowers. What
made you decide to use these? What made you get the cannabis strings from China?
IG: I found cannabis string at a Chinese cooperative society in Paris
and I was attracted by the mythology of this drug and medicine plant. I made my
amulet-tunic at my studio in Naxos Island, tying knots of this cannabis string
every day for a month during the sunset. I needed at this time to experience a
ritualistic way of working. In the end I attached to it some calabash
seeds for their fertility properties and dried Aloe Vera flowers, the well
known plant for its healing and soothing properties.
 |
| Amulet Tunic |
NM: Can you explain a bit
about the scripts and how they were shown in the form of tunics? Why were they
shown in the form of tunics?
IG: As I mentioned previously this concept comes from the Ashanti tunics
and "inscribed" talismanic cloths. These clothes were a
"written" shield protecting the owner - especially soldiers or chiefs
- from dangers of all kinds. On my protective tunics verses are Adonis
poetry verses in Arabic script and Elytis poetry verses in Greek script, in
order to emphasize the healing properties of art in modern societies.
 |
| Sheltering Word (viii) |
NM: What is the
significance of the numbers you showed in the sheltering word ii and viii?
IG: These are the magic squares, arranged in a three by three grid
pattern whose sum of the numbers in each row, column and diagonal is 15. Magic
squares were inscribed, painted, embroidered or engraved on textile, clay or
metal bowls and worn as talismans to ensure long life and prevention of
diseases. It was always considered a very strong talismanic arrangement.
NM: What are the words inscribed
in the sheltering word viii?
IG: This is an ancient Greek incantation asking for "a good life, a
congenial mood, to be 'right in the head', to have an iron constitution, peace
and god". The two letters at the end Ψ
and Χ
form the phonetic spelling of the word «soul».
NM: Do you have a favourite piece?
IG: I always change the
ones I like but I feel now I am closer to the ‘protective tunics’ and would
like to work on them more and make them bigger.
NM: What are you working on now?
IG: One part of my
project is the ‘protective tunics’ I just mentioned and I am also working on a
big exhibition about Demeter, the goddess of harvest, in an old tower on Naxos
Island. In fact the tower is near the sanctuary of Demeter and I am producing
work on her. I would like to underline the importance of agriculture today
through this exhibition and Naxos is a very agricultural island so this is
going to be very interesting.
Irini Gonou was born on 1955 in Athens. She studied
sculpture at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts and after at the
Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Decoratifs where she has also worked as a
workshop assistant for two years at the section of ceramic sculpture. She lived
in Paris for eleven years studying at the same time the multicultural dimension
of art. From 1980 she has shown her work in thirty two solo exhibitions in
Greece and abroad. Her solo exhibition Al-Khatt,
the magic script on 2009 was a visual dialog with the Benaki Museum of
Islamic Arts exhibits in Athens. She has participated in a numerous group
exhibitions in Greece in collaboration with prominent curators of the Greek art
scene, but also in France, UK and Belgium. Her artwork is included to the
collections of the French Ministry of Culture, to the Musee Ernest Renan in
France, to the Museum of Islamic Arts in Athens, to the Museum of Contemporary
Art in Florina to the Anthropological Museum of Ptolemais and to The National Bank of Greece Historical Archive
, also in Greece, to the Municipal Galleries, private Museums and
Foundations, and to a variety of important private collections in Greece and
abroad. She lives and works in Athens and in Naxos Island in Greece and teaches
Arabic and Byzantine calligraphy
at the Museum of Islamic Arts of Athens.
