Revisited #5 2008

Lalla Essaydi made this photograph, Revisited #5, and the writing on the walls looks painted on, a dominant feature of the composition. I wonder what it might have been like for Essaydi to create this scene? To organize the set, costume the models, pose them in position. The figures wear neutral tones, and the sepia palette feels very old, like an ancient photograph or fresco. Their skin seems inscribed with calligraphy, like some bodily record or mystical poem. And behind them is this whole wall of text, layer upon layer. I imagine the artist painstakingly arranging these elements, feeling out the composition until a kind of harmony emerges. It reminds me of Shirin Neshat’s photographs. There's something about the act of inscription, both visually and conceptually, that gets me thinking about identity, history, and place. In the end, artists everywhere are in an ongoing conversation.