memory – Page 2 – Kelise Franclemont

Posted on January 22, 2015August 25, 2020 by kelise72 — 2 Comments

‘Postcards from The Land of No People’, 2015, printed postcards in a wooden rack

A contemporary Orientalist sees herself in Palestine in a series of souvenir postcards… whether or not she belongs or is welcome there…

Because isn’t this what we all do, when we travel to an exotic place, proudly saying “please” and “thank you” in exactly the correct pronunciation of an Other tongue, imagining ourselves for a moment, in asking for the bill, to be mistaken for a native…

while the server, laughing behind his or her eyes, sees right through your identity to a colonial past that is, along with your fantasy, part author to this current moment. Nodding and smiling and complimenting your excellent Arabic, which you both know is harnessed to expectations of generosity, which you gladly bestow for recognition of being seen as you wish to be seen. All of us pretending in this business transaction, an exchange until all accounts are empty.

MA Fine Art Interim Show
Chelsea College of Arts, London

22 January 2015

Kelise Franclemont, ‘Postcards from the land of no people’, 2015, printed cards in a wooden rack.

‘My darling, wish you were here! A camel tour of the Pyramids gives the feeling of what old Testament Egypt must been like way back when…and you can get right up close to these wonders, that is if Humps has the same idea… see you soon, all my love, Kelise’

‘My darling, wish you were here! I was disappointed to find the real Mary’s well in the centre of a car park and it doesn’t even have running water, so tourists are welcome to bring their own bottled l’eau to reenact the biblical water gathering experience.’

Posted on December 2, 2014November 2, 2015 by kelise72 — Leave a comment

Dreams of the Rat Race 2 (No Exit), 2014, projected video installation

Kelise Franclemont, still from 'Dreams of the Rat Race 2 (No Exit)', 2014, projected video, duration 15mins (looped), in 'Office Party' as part of 'Office Sessions III', East India docks, London. Photo credit Kelise Franclemont. — Kelise Franclemont, still from ‘Dreams of the Rat Race 2 (No Exit)’, 2014, projected video, duration 15mins (looped), in ‘Office Party’ as part of ‘Office Sessions III’, East India docks, London. Photo credit Kelise Franclemont.

This is the second version of “Dreams of the Rat Race 2 (No Exit)”, a short looping video [15:03] in which I engage with this office space as my memory of my own prior office career… That 20 years always felt like kind of a trap, or like Sartre’s “no exit”… The viewer can be part of this nightmare; as they stand in front of the projection, their shadow becomes included in the memory of that former life…around and around never really getting anywhere… this time, there is a running course marked in the circuit of approximately 330m. The viewer goes ’round and ’round and occasionally, another runners appear in the frame.

Contemporary art and unexpected encounters of the soiree – ‘Office Sessions III’ and ‘Office Party’ – London

Public blog post about “Office Party” which mentions also my performance piece on Sunday 30 November, the “Office Party Rat Race”. The image in this photo is from “Dreams of the Rat Race (No Exit)” – a projected video work, duration 2:23 (looped).

Posted on November 23, 2014June 25, 2015 by kelise72 — Leave a comment

Dreams of the Rat Race 1 (No Exit), 2014, projected digital video

(if video doesn’t auto-play, click to watch vimeo here: https://vimeo.com/112634742 )

Dream of the Rat Race 1 (No Exit), 2014, projected digital video, 2:23 (looped)

A short looping video in which I engage with this office space as my memory of my own prior office career… That 20 years always felt like kind of a trap, or like Sartre’s “no exit”… The viewer can be part of this nightmare; as they stand in front of the projection, their shadow becomes included in the memory of that former life…around and around never really getting anywhere…

Installation view at Office Sessions III: Office Party

curated by Adam Zoltowski

Kelise Franclemont, Installation view of 'Dreams of the Rat Race (No Exit)', 2014, projected digital video, 2:23 mins (looped). Photo credit Kelise Franclemont. — Kelise Franclemont, Installation view of ‘Dreams of the Rat Race (No Exit)’, 2014, projected digital video, 2:23 mins (looped). Photo credit Kelise Franclemont.

Kelise Franclemont, 'Dreams of the Rat Race (No Exit)', 2014, projected video, duration 2:23 (looped), in 'Office Party' as part of 'Office Sessions III', East India docks, London. Photo credit Louise Wheeler. — Kelise Franclemont, ‘Dreams of the Rat Race (No Exit)’, 2014, projected video, duration 2:23 (looped), in ‘Office Party’ as part of ‘Office Sessions III’, East India docks, London. Photo credit Louise Wheeler.

‘arabic coffee’, 2014, performance and installation

The centuries-old coffee ritual is a custom of deep cultural significance, where this rich dark drink, often served with dried dates or other sweetmeats, is a traditional gesture of warm welcome offered to all guests who happen by. An old Middle Eastern proverb goes something like, “A single cup of coffee creates a friendship that lasts for 40 years”.

My first taste of Arabic coffee was nearly 25 years ago, by the hand of a Palestinian woman who is also my friend. What fond memories I have of the many enjoyable hours accompanied by these tiny cups, and not long after that first afternoon, how proud I was to serve from my own ibrik, a very tasty and authentic “qahweh arabiya” to make my Palestinian husband feel right at home.

It’s many years later, and those friends are miles away in a time that was decades ago; nonetheless, they are never far from mind and even now, I often crave this delicious drink, stirred with so many memories.

In ‘arabic coffee’, I have appropriated this beautiful act of hospitality again as my own, in order to explore an aspect of my personal identity as I create a moment that is enriched by sharing in which I invite guests to share a cup of coffee and a conversation with me, making memories with new friends and old.

‘arabic coffee’ is part of ‘Collaborationem’, a group exhibition at St Saviour’s Church, Pimlico, from 3-6 July 2014.

Posted on February 18, 2014January 21, 2016 by kelise72 — Leave a comment

Underground gallery becomes a dream vault – ‘Live in your Dreams’ at The Crypt, St Pancras, London

Group exhibition in which I participated, Februrary 2014. The work that was shown in ‘Live in your Dreams!’ was a performance and installation entitled, ‘limn reveries’.

Posted on February 18, 2014May 24, 2019 by kelise72 — 1 Comment

‘limn reveries’, 2014, drawing/performance/installation

in Live in your dreams! exhibit at The Crypt Gallery, St Pancras

From 26 February through 2 March 2014, I’ll be doing a drawing/performance piece called “limn reveries”, in a group exhibition “Live in your Dreams!” at The Crypt Gallery, St Pancras Church, Euston, London. The exhibition is curated by Stéphane Verlet-Bottéro, whose research and interests are focused on curation as well as making his own work related to art and science.

“limn reveries”

Which is just an old fashioned way of saying, I’m recording dreams… Basically, what I’ll be doing is attempting to achieve a quasi-meditative state under which I’ll conduct “automatic” (or subconscious) drawing. The thinking behind the exercise is to listen to meditation sound tracks, whereby I can “open up” my subconscious and access the rich imagery there, and then record or draw what I see.

Or click the link to see a short film documentation of the performance/installation on opening night (26 Feb 2014).

Some of the drawings from the performance and installation:

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‘taxi driver dialogue, on highway 1, halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv’, installation for BA Summer Show 2013

From ‘Taxi Driver Dialogue’, 2013, audio and installation, 30 minutes, in 2013 BA Summer Show at Chelsea College of Arts, London. Image courtesy Kelise Franclemont.

‘taxi driver dialogue, on Highway 1 halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv’

2013, installation and digital audio with subtitles, duration 00:30:00 minutes

The listener becomes the conveyor of an unlikely conversation between two taxi drivers that starts and ends somewhere between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and back again.

Watch an excerpt on Vimeo (with subtitles): Chapter 1: Borders and Checkpoints

Kelise Franclemont, ‘Taxi Driver Dialogue’, 2013, installation view, in the BA Undergraduate Degree Show at Wimbledon College of Art. Photo courtesy Kelise Franclemont.

Kelise Franclemont, ‘Taxi Driver Dialogue’, 2013, installation view (detail), in the BA Undergraduate Degree Show at Wimbledon College of Art. Photo courtesy Kelise Franclemont.

‘broken window’ charcoal-drawn animation is part of 2013 BA grad show – Wimbledon College of Art

Kelise Franclemont, ‘broken window’, 2013, charcoal-drawn digital animation, duration 00:00:22s (looped)

A brief memory of a broken window in Nablus, Palestine. What can be broken, what can be fixed, neither remains.

Tag: memory