Great artists such as Michelangelo have used Carrara marble to create magnificent sculptures of idealised human forms. Michelangelo often travelled to the marble quarries near Pisa to select a block, and he is believed to have said that he used his chisel only to release the human form that already existed inside the stone. But when Lara Zankoul visited the quarries during a recent art residency in Italy, she wanted to do just the opposite.
The Lebanese artist is interested in exploring the human psyche within the context of social experience. In her staged photographic artworks, she places her characters in carefully constructed, surreal settings that reflect the psychological pressures of everyday interactions, offering a subtle critique of our modern society. But in the marble quarries of Carrara she found the perfect setting to explore the theme of contemporary human relationships. In her latest exhibition, “As Cold As A White Stone”, the artist has used the spectacular background of the marble as a metaphor for the coldness that has crept into human relationships today.
“Our society has become very individualistic and there is a lack of warmth in human relationships. I wanted to represent this coldness and this alienation in my photographs. The crisscrossing lines, sharp edges and separated blocks created by centuries of quarrying provided a perfect background that is very white, very cold and yet very beautiful. While the great Renaissance artists constructed human forms from the stone, I wanted to deconstruct human forms till they became stone,” she says.
Zankoul has used the stark backdrop to create evocative scenes depicting the nature of human interactions in a world dominated by individualism, virtual life and selfishness. Her characters are dressed in sheer garments that blend with the background. Their faces are hidden as they stand alone and frozen on separate blocks of marble as if each one is an island. Some images depict the duality of our existence and the schizophrenia of living between real and virtual worlds; and in others the models are posed such that the lines of their bodies intersect in a dehumanised form of interaction, while blending with the lines in the background.
Sometimes, the characters are seen touching each other, but there is a lack of emotion and a sense of distance in the interaction, with each character seemingly lost in their own world. The faceless, soul-less, lifeless bodies appear to be in the process of being deconstructed and on the verge of disappearing into the stone all around them, reflecting the numbness, isolation and coldness that pervades our society today.
“Phrases such as ‘a heart that is as cold as a white stone’ express a lack of feeling. Hence for me this setting reflects the mood of my characters. The sharp edges and lines that are manmade define the stone, and articulate the alienation of a plugged-in society, which is a constructed, virtual environment devoid of humanity, warmth and connectivity. The interactions between characters in Renaissance paintings and sculptures are full of drama and emotion, but this is lacking in my images because they portray how human beings interact today. I have used a classic material to talk about contemporary society,” the artist says.
Although her work speaks about a lack of connection between people, Zankoul’s experience of executing this project was quite different. “I was doing a residency in a small village in Italy and did not know anybody there. But I put a message on Facebook and many people living in Tuscany responded. They had no experience of an art shoot, but they knew the area well and helped me with planning, finding the models and with the shoot,” she says.
Perhaps that is why she included a candle in one of the scenes, filling the entire background with the warm golden glow of hope.
Jyoti Kalsi is an arts-enthusiast based in Dubai.
“As Cold As A White Stone” will run at Ayyam Gallery, DIFC, until November 17.
