Paul used to visit the gardens on a regular basis but Fatma only found that out after she had created the work. She was at the last stages of breast cancer at this time and this work is really her swan song to the world. I was so delighted to be asked by her son Nabil M'seddi Charfi to translate (well more interpret than a full translate) the final words of such a huge figure in the world of Contemporary African Art. So without further a do here is Fatma's Last Works.
The Artist version in french:
Interpretation in English by ~|~ Joe Pollitt
Flowers and the Human Lace | Elfenau Gardens in Bern,
Switzerland
In the last three years I have become a lot closer to
nature, inside of which I am able to calm my revolting cells and tranquilize
my dreadful neurosis during these (simultaneous) world revolutions. In spring,
summertime and especially in the fall, I visit the gardens of Elfenau in Bern.
Here is where, my (Aberics) and I, live out this magical connection with the
flowers. I have discovered the vibration of sound, the importance of the
meditational frequencies and often listen acutely to bird-songs and in doing so
I am able to tune in to the voices of the flowers that speak to me. Mutually,
we have gained a certain kind of privacy and a magnificent trust has been
building up. Day after day, I monitor the micro details of their daily
transformations. Original or exhausted flora, rooted or on the ground, always
sublime. My gaze constantly amazed, not to mention my joyful attention.
I watch them intensely and in turn they ostensibly look back
at me. I fear that the moment will disappear, blown away by a gale, in a-blink
of an eye, a-glorious rainbow sky, a-stroke of time, a-momentary distraction,
a-passing detachment of my constant devoted curiosity…
Lately, I have been building transient interfaces with
intermingled foliage, tips of branches, pieces of colour and ends of faded
bloom. Rays of hope on a background of dark stems as daylight creates the
unification of the ‘many-flower’, made-up from not-so-dead petals found on the
ground. A rose, with its diverse coloured plumage layered together to form
another, blended to create a high-bred plant with the use of washed out petals
that gently lean on one another, to become unusual, novel yet blooming...
It was then that I knew and the flowers knew, that hereafter every tomorrow would never be the same... I felt that instant connection as the flowers engrossed me, completing me into existence. Together, we grew far deeper and way beyond the general visitor's brief and lazy stares....
It was then that I knew and the flowers knew, that hereafter every tomorrow would never be the same... I felt that instant connection as the flowers engrossed me, completing me into existence. Together, we grew far deeper and way beyond the general visitor's brief and lazy stares....
Like a petal on a tissue, paper issues of "Itself", I plunged into the world of flowers in the gardens of Elfenau in Bern.
A lace of vegetation, the new-born-strong and beautiful, its structure distinctive, its multi-coloured goodness, its rebirth and its pristine light...
Just like the natural world we are human lace, capable of intelligence to evolve to become the paramount of ourselves…
Human
silhouettes-cum-dancers, bonded by handstands, stick-thin arms, antenna arms,
root arms, arms raised in celebration.
Upwards, and forwards, a
creation of a human lace with a new universal skin, an innovative thrust,
graceful movements, a perfect result. A network of everything and just as lace
ties so a bird flies....
Fatma Charfi (2006... 2012...
2014)
Charfi,
F. (F.C.). Human lace and Elfenau Flowers in Bern (2014), Bern, Switzerland.
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| Paul Klee's Grave in Bern, Switzerland |
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| The Gardens of Elfenau in Bern. |
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| Flowers in Bloom |
