Djamel Tatah Suspends Monumental Figures in Paris Chapel

Djamel Tatah's monumental installation at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris transforms the chapel of the Saint-Martin-des-Champs church. Three xylographed figures on translucent white fabric hang at the entrance of the axial chapel, suspended as if in mid-air. The natural light filtered through stained glass replaces Tatah's characteristic monochrome backgrounds. The figures' faces are turned away or hidden, losing the expressive power of color to become anonymous or universal. One figure is crumpled on the ground after a fall, another levitates with suspended feet, and a third seems to push off from emptiness to escape skyward. The work references Aby Warburg's essay on Florentine portraiture and the practice of life-size wax votive statues (voti) that crowded the church of Santissima Annunziata in the early 16th century, sometimes falling from the vault onto worshippers. Tatah's installation extends the crude means of those donors' salvation-seeking to all humanity. The exhibition runs from May 17 to September 1, 2019.