Continuity of Life

            

One sculpture, out of others, caught my attention the most in Ali Cherri’s Exhibition, Humble and quiet and soothing as mud. Made out of mud, the height of the sculpture comes just above the waist. Although the sculpture doesn’t seem like it is in a human form, its hands look like humans. It also has a long tail. What stands out is the mask the sculpture is wearing, which is made out of metal. The mask looks to have the face of a deer, and the back of the head is covered in fabric. Most importantly, in this sculpture, the existence of light and shadow is very obvious. Three lights take turns to light the sculpture and as they take turns, the shadow moves its position and we can see the change in the shadow’s dimension. 

I think this sculpture is trying to show continuity, the relationship of the natural aspects and humans, the continuity of life and the idea that we are still here, existing. What I found most fascinating about the sculpture was the use of light. Here, I thought the main medium the artist used to express his idea was light and shadow. From my understanding, light and shadow are time elements. Time goes by and we face days and nights. Shadow changes its position and dimension and this is an infinite process of Earth. Among these changes of time, there is something in the middle that doesn’t change - Earth, the source of light and creatures living here. People are still living here, where our ancestors passed on and this will go on. People are still using the same resources that our ancestors used. What were we like in the beginning? When did everything start? What is our relationship with this never-ending nature? Time goes by but some things stay the same, and although life is commonly known to be limited with death, this makes me question, is it really?

Ali Cherri’s sculpture and Werner Herzog’s film, Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2011), are seemingly different sources, nevertheless, they share some common ideas. In the film, exploring the Cave, the curator Dominique Baffier takes us to the paintings. “They tell us stories” - she says. What stories, we may ask when there is only complete darkness, cave rocks and some random paintings. We see the paintings of cave lions, horses and rhinos. Looking at the paintings, she first explains the techniques and details of the paintings. As she does so, she tries to put those animals into motion. She shows how the horses would have been whining back then, looking at their mouths open; how the rhinos would have been fighting, relating to the painting technique of showing the afterimage; and how the cave lions would have felt, looking at their faces.

Dominique Baffier’s observations on the paintings are detailed. Through these observations, I could take myself back to that time where those animals belonged. Furthermore, the film mentions the use of light in the cave to give motion to the paintings. As we direct the light and move around with it, paintings suddenly start changing their position and dimensions as if they are alive - calling to mind the sculptures of Ali Cherri. Here, light gives life to something that has stopped a long time ago, going back in time, feeling something that has already disappeared, so realistically - I can imagine people from the past holding fire just as people in modern days are holding lights to look at those paintings. As we can see here, things haven’t changed that much.

I thought the main idea of the sculpture was to question the limitation of life in this never-ending cycle of nature and time. The reason why I thought there is no limit is that our trace will be left in some kind, it will be remembered. From the film, we could see how we tried to bring back the scene from the painting back then and imagine what happened. Here, again, life has not disappeared completely. Traces are left and people try to recall. There is much that has changed since long ago, but also there are things that remain the same and the things that get remembered. Both sources show that life is not limited. It continues. Also, in both places, lights give life to what stopped a long time ago. Lights give us life and help us to proceed to the future as an ongoing process.

I remember visiting one of the caves in South Africa, Cango Caves, as a part of a school camp. Cango Caves are also limestone caves, just like Chauvet Cave and I noticed high similarities in shape between the shapes inside the caves. At Cango Caves, we could go down through the narrow passages to explore the deep parts. We were allowed to make touches on the wall and it was such an amazing experience. It is so captivating that we can have a look and touch on nature's creation that has been continued for millions of years. With a headlamp guiding my path, I could imagine our ancestors getting through these same tracks with fire. It still feels so vivid, the smell, temperature and the view in front of me and I think our ancestors also felt the same as I did.

Although we didn’t have a chance to look at the paintings ourselves, we were told that there are paintings in the cave as well, in a completely dark part. I recalled this memory while watching the film, Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2011). Both of these paintings are drawn in complete darkness. Ancestors should have used some form of light just like us, most likely fire, to access those parts of the caves and to complete the paintings. Apart from connecting to the past, and thinking about something that hasn’t disappeared during a long period, I also realized what people do is similar in many parts of the world. South Africa and France are completely different countries with completely different cultures yet they share similar historical remains. There is a cycle of life, along with something that doesn’t disappear, memory and culture. As well as that, in different parts of the world, similar phenomenons are happening and this can also be regarded as a continuous form of human culture. There will always be ways to remember the past and be involved in this history ourselves.

Overall, how fascinating is it to derive an idea of life from such a small thing, yet huge - light? It explains everything, the passing of time, and shows us the past and gives us life - in the literal sense. Light doesn’t stop travelling forward but during that process, it somehow captures the past and delivers it to us, to imagine what would have happened.

Works Cited

“Cape Town Etc | The Wonders of the Cango Caves.” Cape Town ETC, Cape Town ETC, 9 April 2015, http://www.capetownetc.com/outdoors/the-wonders-of-the-cango-caves/. Accessed 9 October 2023.

Cherri, Ali. Humble and quiet and soothing as mud, 2023, Swiss Institute, New York

Herzog, Werner, et al. Cave of Forgotten Dreams. Washington, D.C., IFC Films, 2011