Luana Duvoisin Zanchi - Gorkey
24th October - 1st November
I see the image at night on my way home. The Armenian painter Arshile Gorky stands by his mother, they are about to flee the genocide. The poster for his Tate Modern retrospective has been up for 8 years now. I sit by the window of the bus hoping to see it through the greasy stain of a forehead. The 177 is a living room for strangers, holding onto surfaces thousands have held before. Colour fades and small dents appear gathering all the touches of the past, memory of passers-by.
In 2010 the image was a copy advertising for its original. Now its role is uncertain, the attention it calls for unclear.
The couple has taken refuge by the entrance of Deptford Bridge station. They have lost their land and claimed new territory on this crossroad, usurpers of the city’s privatised image display. Exiled from their home they insist on their presence, we await with them while waiting for the bus.
Gorkey, cold lay macadam, jesmonite, found trolley backpack, galvanised steel, resin, digital print of The Artist and His Mother (1926 – 1936) by Arshile Gorky in lightbox.
- Luana Duvoisin Zanchi
With thanks to Jazbo Gross and Stephanie Farmer
