Modus Operandi
Modus Operandi belongs to the Poetry banners series, which combines large scale banners painted with French and/or English poetic prose and videos pieces including footage documenting the banners’ painting process.
The painting is executed by Beninese calligraphers whose main work is is to create signs for shops or advertising banners.
However, their work is now being replaced and their craft is being lost because of industrial printing which cost is lower .
Associating a discipline (poetry) the visibility of which is limited today with a disappearing craftsmanship and filming the process that links them, the question of “progress” and the relationship between innovation and tradition emerges.
The series also questions the nature of the artwork: is it the painter’s filmed performance, the poetic text, the spoken word, or what is materially shown, i.e. the painted canvas and the video?