Never Quite There
Mixed Media
2008
I developed this piece in response to an illustration from the Regnum Congo (1598). This centuries-old European travelogue contains representations of the Congo by people who had never been to the place being described. Because they were relying on other people's subjective descriptions, the artists used elements from European landscape, in a distorted form, to describe faraway Central Africa.
As a result, a new place was invented which bears liittle resemblance to the one it was meant to represent.
With this installation, I wanted to try to recreate the situation which led to such images being created. I described my own surroundings at that time in a series of fragmented texts which are made available to the public. These are intended to allow the viewer to create their own composite picture of the place. The wall painting included in the installation is adapted from one of the more fantastical creatures from the Regnum Congo. It is the logo for my fictional publishing house.