Exhibition views “Baba Yaga Dom”
at giselle, Toulouse FR, July 09th — 23rd, 2019. Photos :Hélène Boutonnet, Lucas Jacques-Witz, Ryder Morey-Weale.
Letter Box Gang, 2019.
[Letter box gang]The Swirling Ceiling, 2019.
[Le plafond tourbillonnant]Abendstimmung am Untersee’s Carpet, 2019.
[Le tapis d’Abendstimmung am Untersee]"Baba Yaga Dom" is a temporary addition to the fabled
home of Baba Yaga. It appeared in giselle’s closet, an exhibition-space
situated in the common parts of a building in Toulouse, between the stairs and the
flats.
Baba
Yaga is an archetypal image of Slavic folklore, a tale character who
existed well before monotheistic religion. The legend goes that she
lives in a house perched on chicken legs.
She is a female initiator, a donor and she provides a link with the ancient feminine, its wild and fearsome strength. Her image has been degraded by centuries of patriarchal culture presenting her as someone that is monstrous and cruel.
Baba Yaga tells us that life is bedecked with inconvenience and that we need to learn how to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Baba Yaga is the big boss, old, ugly and powerful, who comes to shake things up a bit. ⠀
She is a female initiator, a donor and she provides a link with the ancient feminine, its wild and fearsome strength. Her image has been degraded by centuries of patriarchal culture presenting her as someone that is monstrous and cruel.
Baba Yaga tells us that life is bedecked with inconvenience and that we need to learn how to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Baba Yaga is the big boss, old, ugly and powerful, who comes to shake things up a bit. ⠀
The doorstep of this passing space fits into the
semicircle formed by the door wing, and through this small platform,
visitors can enter. The ground is made up of a multicoloured carpet that
can be walked upon. It extends inside the closet where the walls are
covered with painted wallpaper. Once inside, if you raise your eyes
towards the ceiling, you can see swirling forms mirroring the inside
environment. On the door and on the walls there are letter boxes in
which you can reach in to pick short notes left by the old lady. On them
are written things like : «You will see what you learned».
* giselle (now Giselles’s Books) was a closet-exhibition-space founded by Lucas Jacques-Witz and Ryder Morey-Weale. They organized the first exhibition in March 2019 by inviting sereval friends and artists from different countries to create something in the closet.
* giselle (now Giselles’s Books) was a closet-exhibition-space founded by Lucas Jacques-Witz and Ryder Morey-Weale. They organized the first exhibition in March 2019 by inviting sereval friends and artists from different countries to create something in the closet.
