18 Oct. 2019 Edinburgh Portrait gallery

The concept of the museum: Museums unveil the narrative of our past. Historical objects found in excavations, artifacts, works of art are fragments of our history, these exhibits constitute a puzzle of the past which presumably can be comprehensive for the audience.

After having a brief discourse with my tutor the concept of museums was emerged repeatedly. A reason for that might possibly is my visit to the portrait museum in Edinburgh, the overall experience I had there had an impact on me. The main hall is decorated with murals, created by William Brassey Hole in 1899, depicting a variety of historical figures from any field and era. Scientists, warlords, kings, philosophers, inventors, thinkers, politicians ,are depicted on the colonnade of the main hall walking all together side by side. In the museum are exhibited some very interesting art pieces which where associate with the history of Scotland and the personalities that configured it. Wandering around its halls and corridors I was more and more immersed in the history of this place, when I returned to the main hall I realized that the figurative adornment functions like a summarization of the museum. For me this particular building and its exhibits consist the pantheon of Scotland’s history. It is a place dedicated to the heroes of Scotland from its exterior with the façade’s statues to the interior’s paintings and decorations everything is a portion of a “visual epic poem” that to a degree it does romanticize heroes of the past.

What is a Hero and how we perceive it

Thinking about it a question emerges: Who do we consider as a hero and why? One of the most important if not the most important factor for considering some a hero is the deeds that person did and the impact they had on society. A hero dedicates his life for an ideal, for that reason artists, writers and historians glorify and adduce a hero’s deeds. Thus a hero is transcended to the sphere of myth, for the public. In addition to we should mention that a hero in antiquity especially in Greece considered to be a demigod. Hence we move closer towards a definition of the term: heroes are the peak of society, they defy danger, and have certain virtuous attributes, setting a distinction between them and the average person.

What about the members of a society who are considered to be common or even burden? Constriction workers, fishermen, drug addicts, refuges, homeless persons all these categories stand as a counterpose to a hero. Of course heroism is something universal anyone can make an act of valor despite their social position, nevertheless individuals from these groups are rarely considered as heroes. Typically a hero is a successful person while these groups sink into anonymity. Historically we do not cite a specific person from these groups. Heroism is about the individual, the leader or the wealthy, the ambitious, that set of goals define a person worth to be remembered. We remember Napoleon as a leader and embodiment of the French revolution not the thousands of people that died and suffered the worst of plights during that period. The way art chooses to depict Napoleon indicates and underlines what I mentioned before: the transcendence of a person to the sphere of myth.

I find fascinating the dipole relation between anonymity and fame. Generally speaking common person and marginalized ones are not worth to be remembered (at least in the social consciousness) and so does not being depicted in art as a heroic figure. We value a person on their success. What I hope to achieve is to illustrate a world where heroes and commoners are all just archetypical projections, which relate and interact with each other. Out of their historical and social context , in a world where fragments of the past collide to personal anguishes and fears. Hopefully a presumable viewer of the work will find a character a story or generally a composition that he/she can reflect a personal experience.

I think that at a certain degree we choose to depict and exhibit works of art that idolize the heroes of the past for honoring and setting an example for the common person. Albeit a portrait of a high regarded celebrity of the past nowadays it is not about the depicted person but it attracts attention for the way this person is presented. Hence the main focus is the depiction itself and not the person depicted. So at the end of the day what do we admire : the person, or the work of art ?

The reason I focus so much on the relation between a hero and common person is because I aim to create a series of installations and paintings that blend the past with the present, the common person with the hero . I want to present an anti-museum that its purpose is not to present a linear history of a place quite the opposite, its goal is going to be the mixture of past and present.