DELAINE LE BAS
”Shanty Town of The Sleeping Beauties and The Sleeping Demons”
07.03 – 20.04.2008
Curated by Malin Barth
Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz wishing her way back to Kansas but this is not about 'happy endings' but of the Outsiders living at the edge of the rest of society. Creating a home from the disregarded materials of the rest of the world. Shanty towns made by those with a hope for the future, the dispossessed, refugees, those looking for a better life.
"Shanty Town of The Sleeping Beauties and The Sleeping Demons" project is inspired by a photograph of a "Gypsy Squatter Hut" from the New Forest taken last century, this was when all the Gypsies that travelled throughout the Forest were put into camps that had no running water or other facilities and that the buildings had to have no proper floors or foundations so that they were easily removable. For Le Bas, it penetrated her mind with all the pictures she had seen of shanty towns world wide, recent and historical and also of how so many people no matter what their ethnicity are living in the same way. Constructing a home from whatever materials are available, old wood, plastic, cardboard, corrugated tin. These "homes" have no electricity, running water, gas or sanitation and can be bulldozed at a moments notice. So in this world, at this time, in so many places world wide, this "Shanty Town of The Sleeping Beauties and The Sleeping Demons" is a reality for so many living "Outcasts" at the edge of society.
Delaine Le Bas exhibited at the 52nd Venice Biennale, at The First Roma Pavilion. Since this summer she has exhibited in London, Berlin and Linz. In her artistic work she incorporates personal history and experience as a gypsy. She points out that most people have clichéd notions of what it means to be a gypsy, consisting either of a romantic image of the travellers living a free and unconventional life or an image of gypsies only as beggars and thieves. There is an unwritten acceptance to speak derogatory and discriminate against Gypsies. In this exhibition, Delaine Le Bas draws inspiration from a found photograph of a gypsy residence taken in the early 1900s. This was while the Roma people were still mainly travellers. Home is created by what has been available. The installation is built of locally discarded materials and objects. Here, Le Bas also draws parallels to slums around the world as a reality for so many who live as outcasts on the brink of society.
When Professor Ian Hancock accepted the Rafto Prize in 1997 on behalf of the Roma people, he reminded us that Norway has a co-responsibility for the Gypsies' problems becoming a concern for the whole of Europe. Now that more Eastern European countries have become members of the EU, Western countries can no longer close their eyes to the hopelessness and oppression still afflicted to the Roma people in Europe.
[www.romaniarts.co.uk/delaine-le-bas-artist]
- ARTIST / CURATOR´S TALK
8th March
3,14 invites Artist / Curator Talk where different trans-national dialogues will resonate in the individual artist and curator presentations. In addition to Delaine Le Bas and Shahram Entekhabi, there will be a presentation by Kjetil Berge who is Norwegian but has had his artistic practice in London since 1985. Carolina Grau from Spain is a freelance curator based in London, and British Anne-Marie Creamer, curator and artist. Both are active players on the London art scene with international perspective and project.
- Diktlesing og gjendiktning med Mansur Rajih
Fra boken ’Min Brors Smerte’ av forfatteren Mansur Rajih, og gjendikter Maria Aano Reme.
17. april
Landsmann
Landsmannen finnes
på den ødeste øy,
i den mørkeste skog,
på det neste gatehjørnet,
fjernest av alle,
og samtidig
midt blant det undertrykkede folket
Han sier:
Glem arrene et øyeblikk.
Glørne ulmer.
For et hjerte som brenner,
er det nok å flamme opp én gang.
Vi glipper tak
i denne visdommen,
den oppnåes på oppdagelsesreiser,
ikke under hverdagsrytmen.
Gjort av uregjerlig lidenskap,
månenetter
og glede,
besvarer den ingen spørsmål.
Men den tenner en ild
og vi leter
med ulmende glør
for å forstå
hva en landsmann er.
Mansur Rajih (født 1958 i Humayrim i Taiz, provins i tidligere Nord-Jemen), poet som skriver på arabisk, bosatt i Norge. Rajih kom til Stavanger som Fribyforfatter i 1998, direkte fra 15 års fengsel i Jemen.
Han ble frigitt etter et langvarig internasjonalt press fra bl.a. International P.E.N., Norsk P.E.N., Den norske Forfatterforening, Amnesty International (som adopterte ham som samvittighetsfange), det norske utenriksdepartementet og EU.
Mansur Rajih har gitt ut to kritikerroste diktsamlinger i Norge i tospråklig versjon: arabisk originalversjon og norsk gjendiktning.