Diaspora 2007

About the Exhibit

“My fate is to live amid varied and confusing storms”

-- Petrarch, “Africa”

DIASPORA is a collection of stories about archaeology. It explores the ideas of origins, death, and the juxtaposition of time.

DIASPORA: A WORLD ELSEWHERE

The ruthless demands of war and totalitarian regimes have made the exile, the stateless person, the refugee, the dépaysé a common feature of every landscape, historical or modern. Yet all exiles and immigrants in every generation and from every culture yearn for small tokens of the old country, which initiates a personal voyage of discovery. This collection represents the last of a Trilogy that begun with Invisible Cities and Tribes and now culminates in Diaspora: subjects without cities trapped beyond time and place on the cusp of seemingly conflicting cultures.

Appealing to the mixed culture generation, the exhibition creates a mnemonic space through which the visitor moves and thus activates images linked to a collective universal memory that bridge the gap between 'Here' and 'There'; 'Then' and 'Now'. By asking 'Where do I think I come from?' and 'Where do I think I am going?' the images demand the viewer to question 'Origins' (real or imaginary), 'the Nature of Journeys (physical, emotional or spiritual) and the idea of 'Destination' (in this world or the next). Here, viewer participation is encouraged. History is deconstructed. Assigned values change, causing the observer to question their own points of reference, and to add their own dimensions.

An array of motifs from different cultures are salvaged and reused to be recognized through the private fantasy of nostalgia. They find resolution in a new whole that is greater than the sum of the parts. Every image contains the kaleidoscopic shards of a universal memory that has been splintered on the rock of exile and scattered through the winds of time. Torn between light and dark, it is hybrid art that bridges this world and the next, treading and threading time and space, while exploring the fractures between past and present.

Despite the ornaments of gold and pearl, the sepulchral poses of crossed hands and pensive stares imbue these works in the collection with a deep and haunting melancholy, which the artist himself seems reluctant to admit.

“...thus I turn my back
There is a world elsewhere.”
-- Shakespeare, “Coriolanus” III, iii, 134-5

Putting together a show that has already been circulated is in itself an exercise in 're-grouping'. Conceived in Rome as a single entity, most of the work will be disseminated and scattered across the continents. Here they come together temporarily and momentarily, before their final (?) dispersal into a 'Diaspora' of their own.

Paul Gareth Gwynne, Ph.D.
Director of Interdisciplinary Studies
The American University of Rome