In resonance with the pandemic, Frédérique Nalbandian has chosen to represent two emblematic deities of our troubled era, the Greek goddesses of health and…
In resonance with the pandemic, Frédérique Nalbandian has chosen to represent two emblematic deities of our troubled era, the Greek goddesses of health and care, Hygie and Panacée, in her material of choice, Marseille soap, a symbol of hygiene. For fifteen years, to create her works, Frédérique Nalbandian has worked with the Savonnerie du Fer à Cheval, the oldest and largest soap factory in Marseille, which produces a particularly refined soap cooked in cauldrons. From this raw, still warm material, Frédérique made, in the workshops of the Savonnerie, three representations of Panacée in a form that combines both the august gestures of washerwomen and the classicism of the ancient goddesses dressed in their peplos, an artfully folded cloth designed to show off the body. Installation views Hygie et Panacée, Frédérique Nalbandian, Galerie Eva Vautier, May 2021 © Photos François Fernandez Hygie, the goddess around whom the sacred serpent coils, is sculpted from a block of soap two metres high weighing more than a tonne. A documentary was made which, screened during the exhibition, presents the stages of the sculpture, Frédérique Nalbandian's creative work, and how these goddesses fit into her career. A time-lapse (timelapse) shows the appearance of the goddess Hygie as the artist gradually extracts her from her block. A reminder of the Greek pantheon, of the history of soap and of the Savonnerie du Fer à Cheval helps us better grasp the stakes and meaning of this original creation. By representing these protective goddesses, especially emblematic of our troubled era, and by placing them within contemporary art, Frédérique Nalbandian creates a work that resonates with its time. Alain Amiel Touch, text by Bérangère Armand “To speak of life, action verbs are more useful than words”*. Action verbs lie at the heart of Frédérique Nalbandian's work. The artist seizes, soaks, crumples, manipulates, sculpts and shapes the soap. Patiently and forcefully, she gives life to antique forms. The figures of Hygie and Panacée, goddesses personifying respectively health and the universal remedy, welcome us to the gallery, which takes on the appearance of a temple with its high and narrow space. How could one not look with astonishment at this soap work, when we are living through an unprecedented obsession with handwashing and a fear of illness? Frédérique Nalbandian invites the visitor to touch her work after wetting their hands. A profane ceremony of purification unfolds in the art space. One touches the statue, and the chemistry of the soap operates. Beneath its incidental appearance, soap is in fact a very compact, solid material, which can remain unchanged for a very long time, even in the presence of water. Indeed, without friction, wet soap barely alters at all. It must be rubbed, caressed, fully taken in hand before it begins to disappear. The viewer takes part in the “creative process”*: their imagination is elsewhere, in Greece, among the ruins of a…
