Despina
by Zoë Paul
24/04/19 - 29/06/19
Zoë Paul’s work consists of elements and motifs that—whether at athe domesticpersonal or
communality scale—convey an essence of belonging. She employs timeless, general-purpose,
low-tech materials and techniques, such as clayceramics, weaving and drawing, that pertain to a
small-scale economy and are used to meet daily life needs. Her work aims to examine our
relationship with tradition and explores shifts in perception around the value of an object
according to time and context.
In Despina Zoë Paul explores the impermanence of life through the lens of ancient mythologies,
fertility and femininity. Invited by La Loge, she unitesconstructs a narrative through new works
and material experiments that depict to construct a narrative with scenes from both from the
lively territories above the earth’s surface and, and below its surface:, the divine yet obscure
underworld. Paul underlines the co-interdependencye betweenof these two spaces through the
use of symbols and allegories. Taking a more holistic approach to nature, Paul puts
forwardemphasizes tradition and femininity over moreas opposed to modern forms of relating to
the world, and highlights the bounties provided by nature when handled with attention and care.
The exhibition approaches the multiple facets of Despina, daughter of Poseidon and Demeter, as
the mistress of the house and the underground deity of nature, birth and death. In Greek the
word also refers to “lady”, unfolding a series of associations made by the artist around the
notion of femininity. Guided by the mythological figure of Despina, Paul addresses craft as
something that has long been considered a feminine and domesticated preoccupation, and which
has been predominantly associated with the confined space of the household. Rather than seeing
craft as a way of controlling women within a biased image of femininity, Paul examines how
communities and affinities are produced through craft and reproductive labor.
Despina is also the goddess of the grain, harvest, growth, and the fertility of the earth. She is an
apt protagonist forin addressingthe narrative of permaculture and natural farming as an
alternatives to patriarchal modes of production, likeincluding industrial farming and
manufactureing. Permaculture encourages communities to be resourceful, sustainable and self-
reliant, while maintaining a balanced and healthy relationship with the earth. In order to be able
to do this, we need to know “what unadulterated nature is, so that we can instinctively
understand what needs to be done—and what must not be done—to work in harmony with its
processes.” This intuitive way of handling resources and materials is reflected in theher way Commented [1]:
Paul use ofs timeless elements that are older than humanity itself, such as clay, water, mud and Who is the quote from?
goat manure. ShePaul evokes an economy associated with daily life needs, in which craft also
accomplisheshas the afurther function of transferring knowledge and ideas, and which cannot be
separated from performances of gender.
The exhibition is composed of three different realms: the living world, and the underworld, and
the thresholds that connected by thresholds them as spaces of transition. In the main space of La
Loge, Paul invites the visitor to experience the territory of the living and decaying. Hanging
from the ceiling, a large bead curtain (Zargana, 2019) adorned with the image of a fish alludes
to the lively atmosphere which can be experienced from above the earth’s surface. The beads
are made manually, stained in different colors with raw oxides and ground- up geological
minerals. Represented on itThe fish is, thea red mullet, is a species of goatfish associated with
Despina, goddess of the underworld. Popular in ancient Rome, this fish was treated both
indulgently and cruelly related to both luxurious and somehow cruelfor forms ofhuman
amusement: wealthy Romans would keep itkept them in captivity as pets, to feeding them it by
hand as a pet, but they wouldbut also enjoytaking the aesthetic pleasure from the sight of red
hues in the skin of the fishes as they died. experience of red hues provoked as the dying fish’s
colors changed. Zargana, the piece’s title of the piece, is a Greek word referring both to the
Greek name of the speciesfor the fish asbut also to femininity in general, as it is common ly
used as slang to refer to women in general. A returningrecurring element in Paul’s practice, the
bead curtains functions as a medium: a lo-fi cinematic technology enabling to create movement
within still images. It refers to the permeable shades that veil the thresholds of southern village Commented [2]:
homes, separating public and private spaces while also embodying a transitory state Southern where?
impersonated by Despina.
Still atIn the temple of La Loge, a series of herb paintings (Herb Paintings, 2018) expand the
artist’s conceptual and material research on the aesthetics of life and death. Depicting flowers
and plants asthrough the format of the still lifes, Paul evokes images of the daily world pointing
tothe sense of nature’s transience in images of daily existencet states. In the center of the room,
the seven ceramic pots (Breathing Pots, 2019) emanateevoke a bodily quality in their torso-like
. Molded in organic forms, they evoke human torsos, which contain water rather than air-filled
lungs. Instead of lungs, they are shaped by the form of water, as negatives of a sculpture but
also both as objects and living beings. The anthropomorphic fountain reinforces the idea of
flow: water appears again as a metaphor, as an element from which life springs. It contributes to
creating then aquatic environments, in which forms of life sprout and decay. Nevertheless, the
water leaks through the cracks, marring itsthe baseis. It trickles downwards into the depths of
the underworld, emphasizing the dichotomy as well as interdependence between these two
states of life, as well as its co-dependency.
In the corridors and hallway, the walls are decorated with voluptuous figures (Wall paintings,
2019) painted in changing colors in clay and oxides, – the same materials used in the bead
curtain. Painted directly onto the walls, these paintings are ephemeral, the colors inconstant.
However, tThe figures imply another temporality: they are spectral spirits that tie the exhibition
together, creeping across the walls and crevices of the building. Here, visitors pass through a
zone that slows them down the pace, and where herbal teas (Tea Ceremony, 2019) are served to
reinvigorate the senses— - a returningcommon motif in Paul’s work. Presented in cups and
vases sculpted by the artist, the tea, (supplied by Greek herb company Daphnis and Chloe),
refers to an ordinary human activity, underlining the value of objects and the experience of
shared time. Two black dogs (Dogs, 2018) circle around the hallway’s Pythagorean mosaic.
These slender animals running around it are symbolic figures of the underworld, associated with
the subterranean and the goddess Despina. Together with the corridors of La Loge, the space
assumes thea status of a limbo.
In Despina, Paul underlines the building’s circulation by in the building, emphasizing its
vertical axis. If the main space on the ground floor symbolizes the terrain of the living, the
basement presents itself as a humid, mossy environment where divine figures reside. In this
dark, subterranean world, godly feminine forms (Reclining Figures, 2019) protrude from a
carpet of earth. MadeCarved infrom marble, their reproductive organs are underlinedhighlighted
as parts of round silhouettes, punctuatingemphasizing the fertile powerity of nature and land.
About the artist
Zoë Paul (b. 1987, London) grew up between the Greek island of Kithira and Oxford,
withhaving South African origins. She now lives and works in Athens. After finishingreceiving
her undergraduate degree at Camberwell College of aArt, she completed her MA in Sculpture at
the Royal College of Art, London. Past projects and exhibitions include La Perma-Perla Kraal
Emporium, a collaborative work that invites visitors to sit around a long table and make clay
beads (SPIKE Island, Bristol, 2018 and The Breeder, Athens, 2017); Equilibrists, organized by
the New Museum, New York and the DESTE Foundation, Athens in collaboration atwith the
Benaki Museum, Athens; Solitude and Village, an exhibition exploring social relations and
indebtedness in the village, (The Breeder, Athens, 2016), and Unorthodox, (at the Jewish
Museum, New York, 2015).
List of Works
Temple:
Zargana, 2019
Handrolled fired clay beads and raw oxides
470 x 140 cm
Fountain, 2019
Fountains and water pump
Variable dimensions
Flower Paintings, 2017
Herb, brass frames, lava rocks
100 x 140 cm
The Breathing Pots, 2019
White washed ceramics
100 x 60 x 50 cm
Hallway
Tea ceremony, 2019
Pots, cups and tea
Dogs, 2018
Ceramics
45 x 85 x 45 cm (each)
Wall paintings, 2019
Painted in clay and oxides
Variable dimensions
Basement:
Reclining ladies, 2019
Resin and marble
Dimensions
Acknowledgments
Our gratitude goes to Zoë Paul xxxxx
Thank you to Bourgondisch Kruis.
The team at La Loge
Team: Laura Herman, Laila Melchior, Anne-Claire Schmitz
Visual identity: Antoine Begon, Boy Vereecken
Translations:
Installation team: Benjamin Jaubert, Nicolas Moreau
Opening hours
Thursday - Friday - Saturday, 12:00 to 18:00
Free entrance. Visit our website for more details about our programme and events.
La Loge
rue de l’Ermitage 86 - 1050 Brussels
+32(0)2 644 42 48
[email protected] - www.la-loge.be
La Loge is a privately initiated non-profit association
founded by architect Philippe Rotthier. La Loge is
supported by Philippe Rotthier Foundation, Flanders State
of the Art, and First Sight, La Loge’s community of engaged
individuals and organisations.
