THE AFTER LOVE

• mixed media on canvas
• 220x60 cm
• 2018

This installation was created during the four days of World Art Dubai 2017 (WAD). I had prepared in advance the necessary elements: more than 300 red roses crocheted in cotton and wool, for the creation of which I was assisted by a Romanian friend as well as local women. The concept of this artwork was, on the one hand, a reflection on the traditions of artisanal creation – knitting, crochet, sewing – in response to massive industrialization, globalization and overconsumption, and on the other hand, the use of the creative process as a means of interpersonal communication in a society where populations are massively mixed.

The feminine energy of love and tolerance, the role of women in archaic societies through the ancestral gesture of braiding, and the symbolism of fiber – through its omnipresence in the structure of living beings – are inscribed in my approach as elements of collective cultural memory. In questioning poetic language, thread and fiber are both texture and text.

More than 150 visitors, people of all ages and nationalities present at WAD, participated in the creation of this installation by sewing a rose themselves, and their name is written on the back of the board as co-creators. Some of them had never handled a needle in their life. My proposition was that art be observed through the creative process rather than the finished product and through the active presence of the artist who allows the public to engage in this creative process. Art is a journey, a permanent interaction with life, and by blurring the boundary between the two, the audience becomes part of the work itself to the extent that the audience as spectators also plays the role of creator.