 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Pascal Convert |
|
For L.F.D.A. 02.The author of a film and book on Joseph Epstein, Pascal Convert continues his homage to this figurehead of the French Resistance with a crystal sculpture created for La Force de l’Art 02, showing Epstein lifting his young son towards the sky. Hailed as one of the boldest, most daring Resistance leaders, Epstein – a Jew, Polish-born, and a Communist – left his home country for France, joined the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War, and finally fought alongside his comrades in the Resistance. He was shot dead at Mont Valérien in April 1944. Convert’s crystal sculpture, inspired by a photograph of Epstein and his son, stands as a supreme memorial. Taking a pre-existing image as its starting-point, the sculpture imbues the memory with life and movement, and continues Convert’s sculptural series based on internationally famous press photographs (Pietà du Kosovo, 1999-2000 ; Madone de Benthala, 2001-2002 ; Mort de Mohammed Al Dura, 2003-2004). Unlike these, however, Joseph Epstein corrects a lapse in our collective memory: this hero’s name, story and image are largely unknown to today’s public. Through this work, Pascal Convert examines the reasons for our forgetting, and invites us to encounter the figure and face of one man, Joseph Epstein. Pascal ConvertVery much attached to history and to the experience of remembering, Pascal Convert explores the potential images have to become realms of memory themselves. In response to the surfeit of media coverage, he opts for working to re-create reality by withdrawing into silence. Using materials that function both symbolically as well as physically, since they are more alive than two-dimensional images and capable of preserving the imprint of the body, Pascal Convert marks into sculpture and for eternity the trace of past tragedies.
 Pascal Convert
|
