FLEURS DU MAL
India & London, 2011
Adornments for Performance & Film
Inspired by Charles Baudelaire and his most famous volume of poems Les Fleurs Du Mal, walking the fine line between the Fun-Frivolous and the undoubtedly fragile
A pastiche of moving and still images accompanied by menacing music to set the tone, performers saunter in measured movements as representations of the digital imagery that looms on the screen, poeticizing their erotic melancholy from feeling to form
Upon first glance, the works appear bright & light with an eye-popping colour palette set against a backdrop of white and magical air. Rainbow-coloured corsages sit side by side with exaggerated Swarovski crowns, flowers embedded in light-reflecting perspex create a visual explosion to the eye, whilst multihued hearts and stars nestle snugly in every crevice from the floral headdresses right through to the vibrant ribbons that tie the ensembles together
It's only on closer inspection when you notice the subtle touches such as the fading colours of the petals, and encasements in perspex as an attempt to Revive-Preserve, indicating a slow loss of life; that the influence governed by Les Fleurs Du Mal really becomes clear
Death, once again, preoccupies and yet one ceaselessly finds new ways to Explore-Traverse this Darkness that is Life