Dear Charif,

I remember you many years ago, drawing and drawing on your desk at home until, after months, the wooden surface was almost completely covered. I was too shy to look at it, I saw it as a piece of you, something really private. I also remember your amazing pencil drawings portraits and how you used to say: «Easy, you just need to really look». I admired your spontaneity back then and I still do. What I like the most about the new «medium» you use to express yourself is the heart and the energy you put into it. Funny, how you can never be satisfied and this is maybe why you’ll probably understand any person who chose to be an artist as a career... because each time I tasted something you cooked I was amazed whilst everytime you began describing how better it should have been.

I have great memories of our late night encounters in the kitchen, when we improvised with what was left in the fridge. The emptier the fridge, the more challenging it was. You seemed to know exactly what you were doing and not at all at the same time. It’s something I still think about when I work, that perfect balance of control and fluidity.

If you would have chosen, you would have probably been a great artist.

Among all the people I know, you have the most unique insights and ideas of what the purpose or meaning of being an artist is about. It’s probably because it’s not your sphere, mostly because you have this beautiful way to stand in front of the world and base your vision on strong values. I won’t bring up one of our endless debates in this letter. I’ll just say that in life we are all several personas at any given moment, depending on with whom we are talking. The version of me I prefer, the one that feels the closest to the person I want to be, is my artist-self. You know better than anyone that I love daydreaming, since we were kids. Art provided me with a space for contemplation and fragility, and it’s the only context I have found so far where this is a strength instead of a weakness.

I hope this show would also be the chance you see my work for the first time.

I am looking forward seeing you soon,

Best,

Your little sister

Lyon, France
September 2016

(1)
Something Will Happen Next, 2016
Iridescent Paint, 2 found tiles (10 x 10 x 1 cm each) and ambient white light. Variable dimensions.
These tiles were removed from the wall of a house before renovation. They wear over time and their cracks are similar to hand lines. One remains untouched, the second is fully covered with paint which appears invisible from some points of views.

(2)
Mind Game and Translation, 2016
Glass 2 formats (120 x 120 cm), iridescent paint, ambient white light and found perfumes bottles polished. Variable dimensions.
A chest grid is painted on glass, the colors change according to the distance and point of view. At times the squares might appear polished and the light-grey green grid melts with its shadow, while the traces of the paintbrush are revealed from other points of views. From far, the vivid pink allows the grid to appear detached from the wall.

(3)
Vent du Sud, 2016
South’s Wind
Iridescent paint, polyester 2 layers (135 x 350 cm) and ambient white light. Variable dimensions.
A very transparent textile suspended, takes its autonomy by distancing itself from any wall, it is revealed by a «Moiré effect», an undulating drawing created with the superposition of 2 textiles trams. The movements, sometimes caused by air stream or the displacements of bodies, shake this vibration. Only the outline of the painted heavenly body appears steady, as a moon of the day, sometimes white, sometimes light-yellow, as a moon of the night, sometimes electric blue, sometimes dark and grey.

(4)
Intranscriptible, 2016
What can’t be transcribed
Iridescent paint and polyester (110 x 140 cm). Variable dimensions.
A very transparent textile is suspended onto a white wall, which creates a sensation of solidity, while the painted hands melt with the background and their shadow.

(5)
Untitled, 2016
Construction paper (210 x 225cm), iridescent paint and ambient light. Variable dimensions.
A support of protection and errors becomes a support of painting. The gesture appears visible only from some point of view; the painted shape is ghostly.

(6)
Color Drunkness, 2016
Video Installation - Video : 3min 06sec, loop. Beamer and silver transferring paper. Variable dimensions.
A fast car ride flirts with abstraction. The camera absorbs the colors of the blurry city late at night. The image is transformed through its projection onto a shiny transferring paper. Thus two situations and temporalities overlap.