"Histories/(Hi)stories...photographs by Gerard Mermoz"
2007-03-17 until 2007-04-14
Gallery Vassie
Amsterdam, , NL Netherlands

‘Histories/(Hi)stories...’ an exhibition of photographs by Gerard Mermoz will be shown at Gallery Vassie in Amsterdam from 17 March until 14 April 2007. Histoires/(Hi)stories... stages a series of fictional impossible situations, with found objects from different cultures, in order to explore the basis of human conflicts: an Etruscan bronze and a Baroque Jesus; a terracotta votive figurine from India and a Roman bronze; a plastic figurine of a German soldier from WWII and a Etruscan bronze, a plastic model (hand painted by a child) of Napoleon and a ceramic penguin; a porcelain figure of an XVIIIth century nobleman (the Marquis de Sade?) and a wood carving of a fertility figure from the Dogon nation.

Through a meticulous choreography of the figurines’ body language and their materiality (bronze, china, terracotta, wood, plastic…; new or bearing the signs of use and patina of age), each work invites us to explore the origins of intercultural conflicts in the language of the photographic allegory.

Through the language of the fable, wrapped in humour, these deliberately anachronistic confrontations invite us to ponder over the basis of human conflicts and to consider the implications of cultural differences, from a transnational perspective, for the present and for the future. At a time when, in the press and in our own snapshots, photographs claim to mirror what happens in the world, it is relevant to explore indirect—less retinal—and ‘slower’ forms of representation; forms which encourage us to reflect critically about what we see.

French Artist Gérard Mermoz studied Literature, Philosophy and Art History at Aix-en-Provence and Sienna Universities, prior to moving to England where he took a Masters Degree (MA) in Digital Media. Since then he has been an educator, teaching fine art, photography, art & design history & theory at universities in England and currently holds the position of Director of the MA in Visual Art Practices (Art-Making, Curation, Criticism) at TADT, Dublin, Ireland.

Mermoz has exhibited internationally and has been widely published.

All work is available for purchase.

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