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Lipographic Light Studies, 2022
“Lipograph” is a term I have coined, inspired in George’s Perec’s lipogrammatic work. A lipogramme is commonly understood to be a literary device where a constrain is applied to written language in order to inspire new and innovative ways of storytelling.
George Perec, who spearheaded the Oulipo movement and who popularised the lipogramme, believed that literary constrains were essential to approach challenging topics. In his book, La Disparition he famously omitted the most common vowel in the English/French language, the letter ‘e’. In Les Revenents, he famously ommited every vowel except the letter ‘e’. The letter ‘e’ is seen by many historians as a symbol for his missing mother who died during the Holocaust. Without the letter ‘e’, there can be no mère, no père, no Perec.
In this experimental series I have adopted Perec’s lipogrammaticl approach to explore the ontological concept of absence and reflect on how one might tackle a complex topic such as the disappearance of a loved one. This project is part of an overarching series inspired by the death and disappearance of my good friend, photojournalist Anton Hammerl, during the 2011 Libyan war.
These artworks were created by exposing photo sensitive paper to different light sources, light patterns and lightwaves. The colours are achieved by converting GPS coordinates into the color filtration values of an analogue color enlarger (Cyan, Magenta or Yellow). Each line corresponds to either Latitude or Longitude values. In this system, the color of the first line (Latitude) is achieved by converting, for example, the GPS coordinates 32º 54′ 4.79″‘ N (Tripoli) into 32 Cyan, 54 Magenta & 4.79 Yellow . The second (Longitude) by converting the GPS coordinates 13º 11” 5.40″ E’ (Tripoli) into 13 Cyan, 11 Magenta & 5.40 Yellow .
Each GPS coordinate/color corresponds to a site related to Anton Hammerl’s disappearance. The thickness and orientation of each line is determined by the site’s relevance to the investigation of Anton Hammerl’s disappearance. Each rip or overlap represents a dead end. Each vertical line a milestone achieved.
These works are paired with personal photographs from unknown individuals recovered from the sites I visited, a route often taken by economic migrants, victims of domicide, as well as from the collection of the Archive of Modern Conflict . The referential subject of these images is also absent. There’s no clear clinch between both sets of images. Only a reverberation that we cannot identify or deny.