Talisman 1

The 'Talisman' Work

'Talisman'

The work that I made around the theme of 'Talisman' is really a collection of thoughts and ideas which relate to the idea of psychogeography, of feelings that are connected or rooted in a particular geographical place. This work and several pieces preceding it are motivated by a need to reconcile and reflect on our own human journey both ancestrally and existentially. Studies of medical anatomy and the embryo, refer to the way we evolve as people depending on our cultural context as well as our genetic inheritance.  The embryo itself is connected to 'nodules' of knowledge transmission (these are shown as actual physical objects in the drawing). As I was doing this, I felt the need to record and ‘map’ the process, consciously noting next to the drawing the actual ideas and various narratives as they emerged.  I was thinking about the genetic code that shapes its life and even the architecture of the brain, our phenomenological attributes and some of our predispositions.  Synchronously, I attended a distant course at Johns Hopkins University in the area of behavioural genetics, and much of the research suggested that even past parental knowledge and trauma can be transmitted biologically.

Panel one started as a figure study from a  photograph and then suddenly it transformed into a series of segments which roughly corresponded to the human figure. Originally I played around with light, creating shadows. See Below: 

'Talisman' Light play.  A figure is cut from the same piece of paper as the drawing.  Light is used to create a shadow that roughly corresponds to the figure.

The image then evolved in stages, as can be seen in the following images. Ottoman maps of Constantinople, apotropaic eyes (used in both Greek and Turkish cultures to 'ward off' evil; are a recurrent theme. 

The feet were drawn and then assembled onto the legs. If you look closely at the legs you will see Mehmet II who conquered Constantinople in 1453.  The cut-outs on the left were not used as intended, as a base for the figure. I decided to take these into larger prints. The quality of the photographs enabled me to make bigger than A1 positives, from which to make my screens. I used burned amber acrylic ink without the printing medium/extender, as I wanted to wash the paper afterwards and hand tint it, using watercolours. The final outcomes were less detailed than the drawings and exuded a very different feeling.  Parchment and illuminated manuscripts come to mind when I look at them.  The logistics of framing and displaying such large paper works are complex, but the reception has been very encouraging.