REFLECTIONS: The recent collection of Bacho’s work displayed at KAC. Inset: Bacho’s recent body of work includes pictures from her memory. Photos by Umer Nangiana
By Umer Nangiana
Things from the past, no matter how trivial they look now, once have been the only treasure in the lives of all of us. The mere recall of faint memories attached with childhood and the time of youth are often enough to let you escape the intricacies of the modern-day life even if for a brief moment of time.
Memento by Ginane Makki Bacho is such a collection of artistic masterpieces aptly portraying that moment of interplay between the past and the present. Currently on exhibition at Katara Art Centre (KAC) in building 5 of Katara Cultural Complex, these paintings by the Lebanese artist are souvenirs from the past that would take you back in time.
Using mixed media with acrylic, the artist has put on canvas all that usually remains forgotten in a rather dark corner of our minds. “For as long as I can remember, I have had an all-consuming fascination with the shifts and fluctuations between time and space, and the impact they have on my own memories,” says Bacho.
Between the past and present, she adds, lies a paradox. On one hand, a still unshakeable faith and hope in a bright future that once seemed within reach, and on the other, a slow disenchantment with the burdens and realities of the present day.
“Today, when all such faith is under siege from the hatred, violence and wars that surround us in the Arab World, I endeavour to escape this suffocating reality by dwelling on a simpler time when I was young, free and full of optimism, even if much of it was an illusion,” says the artist, explaining the current presentation of her artistic exertions.
However, she realises that one cannot escape for long in this age of globalisation and Internet where one’s attention is always being shaken and jostled by a never-ending procession of breaking news that does not allow the slightest breathing space.
The result, she says, is an unresolved conflict between her desire to return to what once was and the constant, jarring realities of the present. The tension between the two creates a state of flux where boundaries blur between the past and the present and so her memories, both real and illusory become tangled and confused with her experiences so she can no longer be sure which is which.
“My art is an attempt at reconciling these opposing forces, to rescue what is valuable from the past in order to give meaning to the present,” says Bacho about her paintings.
This, she adds, is the aim of her current series of paintings titled Memento in which she has drawn on the random residue of her life which she tells the viewers that she has preserved in small boxes, containing her collections of stamps, photos, letters, and other memorabilia.
The artist has masterfully fused these memorabilia with colour on canvas to bring to the fore the underlying meaning. “They are a kind of mute witness to the hope and optimism of the past, and in a way perhaps of restoring my belief, and the viewers, that such hope was not entirely futile and is not entirely lost,” says the Beirut-based artist.
About the objects she has stamped on her paintings, Bacho says, are precious only to her serve as testimony to all that once she wished for, all that has happened since, and all that she hopes will happen again.
“With these paintings, I delve through these layers of artefacts and mementos, trying to summon through them what is invisible and intangible to tell the untold stories or retell forgotten ones, and to reveal the freedom that once was,” says Bacho.
Although this new body of work stems from a deeply personal place, the artists says it is her hope that she can invite viewers to explore their own inner worlds and shared memories of time, space and place.
Born in Beirut, Bacho has a BA in French Literature from the Lebanese University and an MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Pratt Institute in New York City. She was an instructor of art in the United States where she lived from 1984 through 2000.
Upon returning to Beirut, she taught printmaking at both the American University of Beirut and the American University of Science and Technology. She currently lives and works in Beirut.
