DIGESTIVE PHASE - off-site
Solo and traveling show by Estel Fonseca
Exhibition at OÙ and traveling, a partnership with Triangle France - Astérides
February 10 – 23, 2020, public opening and performance on February 20, 5-7PM
OÙ at HLM / Hors Les Murs gallery, 20 street Saint-Antoine, 13002 Marseille
The project LASCIA PERDERE originates from the discovery of the evolving meaning of a genetic mutation present in my family. It is associated with the development of a progressive cerebellar ataxia called Machado Joseph. In April 2018, I came across the thesis by Paula Cotinho, a Portuguese neurologist, on the disease: she discusses the origin of the genetic mutation in the 16th century and its spread worldwide from the Azores archipelago, through an epidemiological study on all continents. Since then, I have been questioning the origins of this mutation, the historical context of its appearance, and my project connects the geographical areas involved. I proceed through analogy to create the conditions for the existence of an improvised overflow, nourished by encounters and intuitions from various fields of research.
In the spring of 2020, I traveled to the Azores. The moment has come to store the ideas in an analog exhibition, to bring the still-developing project into the present, the digestion phase of this development, in a symbiotic contamination where everything can take shape, even germinate in the search for forms, what germinates and what is contained in what germinates. Everything is plastic, like the bodies tasked with embodying what germinates. I ingest and digest at the same time, and to digest well, I accept to mutate, to change states, to transform the food ingested to make it assimilable by my body.
PHASE OF DIGESTION shows this process of integrating a question: what is this mutation doing in my life?
Text by Estel Fonseca (translated to English).
The exhibition includes a participation by Victor Daamouche.
Performance by Estel Fonseca and Bouchta Saïdoun during the opening night, at 6:30 PM.
From her experiences, Estel Fonseca has learned to recognize what imposes itself. Since 2016, she has been taking care of her mental, emotional, and physical body. Her interests in margins, bodies, landscapes, and uses have come to life through exhibitions: “Le tremblement est invisible” in Rennes at the HubHug of 40mcube (2016), “Sauvetage vertical” at the Straat gallery, Marseille (2017), and “Automne Hiver Intersaison” at the Tableau gallery, Marseille (2019). She has also presented performances at festivals such as OKAY CONFIANCE at Coco Velten, Marseille (2019) and at SETU, Brittany (2019). Estel Fonseca benefited from a creation residency in Glasgow from May to August 2018 through the exchange program between Triangle France and Glasgow Sculpture Studios.
