AN INTRODUCTION TO VIOLETTE BULE’S "ECHO CHAMBER”
by Surpik Angelini
Curator / Founding Director
Transart Foundation for Art and Anthropology / Houston
Jacques Derrida sees the myth of Narcissus and Echo as the relation between light and speech. He goes on to explain that according to the myth, Echo and Narcissus are cursed by blindness. A blindness that cannot render “otherness” beyond self reflection in a pool of light… a blindness that does not render a distinct voice beyond spoken repetition.
It is a tragic entanglement, entrapped in a Narcissistic echo chamber, haunted by an engrossed self image and loud soliloquies. The Echo Chamber, “The Promised Land” where the Other is banished forever, its edenic beauty defaced beyond recognition.
Violette Bule’s “Echo Chamber” is a requiem to Narcissus, who dies a thousand deaths in the broken mirrors of oblivion.
ARTIST STATEMENT
As an artist-photographer, I move beyond the documentary record by drawing attention to the fantastical within reality and by deploying satire in order to take a critical look at a variety of social issues and power structures. While anchored in photographic practices, I often employ other media ranging from fine art materials to digital technology to commonplace objects such as mirrors, bars of soap, and silverware. Conjuring fictional narratives staged in urban spaces, I seek to question and highlight the often-overlooked complexity of issues such as migration, incarceration, identity, social justice, and nationalism.
I am committed to the power of image-making to spark radical change. Drawing on my experiences as a Venezuelan immigrant to the United States, I examine the structural violence that shapes the everyday life of vulnerable and precarious communities. Often employing documentary forms, I hope to renew and radicalize the modern ideal of blurring the boundaries between art and life as I seek to explore vulnerability and amplify it as a potential form of counterinsurgency, or perhaps, of political power.
You can read the full article here on the Transart Foundation Foundation website: LINK