Lambeaux (scraps) by Gilles Eli-Dit-Cosaque
Permanent Display
A moving journal, filled with personal and historical photographs, it’s also a Creole diary – not in a geographical sense, but rather a state of mind, referring to the concept of creolisation.
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Lambeaux (scraps) by Gilles Eli-Dit-Cosaque is a fantasised diary, reconstructed from disparate elements. A moving journal, filled with personal and historical photographs, it’s also a Creole diary – not in a geographical sense, but rather a state of mind, referring to the concept of creolisation. The fragmented pages are a work of art constantly on the move, like the experience of memory.
Employing the trope of notetaking as its form, the Lambeaux aestheticises the labour that happens before a project is finished. Each piece is a 2-page spread from a notebook with a binding fold in the middle. Gilles’ art is very much alive, allowing for fluidity and multiple points of view.
Lambeaux is part of the Challenging histories exhibition at ISM; a section of the museum that features contemporary artworks responding to the history of transatlantic slavery and its legacy. In 2014, the museum received a generous grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Collecting Cultures programme – allowing ISM to develop its own collections. Lambeaux was its most recent acquisition, with an already impressive collection of 40 objects, documents, and artistic works.