Open Studio

A print and sculptural installation in Lacoste, France

The Savannah College of Art and Design has  a small campus in the medieval village in Lacoste, France. Each quarter, less than a hundred students get to go to the village located on a hill in the southern part of the country. At the end of the quarter, the students get to display their work for the locals, tourists, and even visitors all the way from Paris. This is an installation piece located in one of the several-hundred-year-old studios in the village. 

The concept behind the “Print-stallation” is the history of the land and the stories it tells in contrast with man made structures. We talk so much about how old the village is, or how old cities are, but in actuality the land is far older and it will continue to be around long after the buildings have become ruins. The wood and stick structures are representative of nature, and they are holding up books. A book tells a story, but it is a human story, so these books are hollowed out and contain small artifacts. This is a way to show that all things return to the earth, just like the books, which were originally trees, become natural again. The prints accompanying them are copper etchings laid over lithographs of the forest around Lacoste. The ghosts are used to tell the human aspect of the story, because like a ghost, when man made structures decay, they leave just remnants of what they were.