Ghislan Sutherland-Timm

xxxii.

Ripped pictures of ceramics from a vintage Art Nouveau style catalogue merge together with a human figure to form “xxxii.” also known as Eurydice.

“In exploring cinema’s tactility, my work was prompted by the 1959 film Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro) directed by French filmmaker Marcel Camus (1912-1982). Black Orpheus resurrects the ancient Greek mythology of two lovers, Eurydice and Orpheus, in amidst of the rhythmic and joyful festivities of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil juxtaposing the tragic and soulful fate of the blooming lovers. Centering black and Latinx performers and cultures with Greek mythology, I was captivated by the film and inspired to produce works which reflect body and movement, as throughout the film, nothing and no one stood quite still. In creating incomplete complete works, each partially made human figure (Eurydice and Orpheus) mirrors an assemblage of their identity and reflects fragments of being complete for each other. ”