France, 1995

The Mirror

A mirror is a good concealing device, because it is never seen. A wall, hiding the entrance to a secret corridor, can be observed and analyzed until one discovers the hidden handle. Whereas, with a mirror, one sees only what it reflects, but never really the object itself. I created a mirror with zinc, a medium used for print making techniques. This apparent old mirror, full of stains, holds drawn images that are not visible with the naked eye. By directing light - and therefore attention - onto the mirror itself, images will appear as a projection. The drawings are not made with paint, neither with ink, but drawn by the shadows. Shadow, darkness, are known as a byproduct of light; the same way the absence of light causes shadow, the absence of life causes death. But to use darkness, as a material itself, is to play with 'invisible forces', 'occult forces', which is the privilege of the sorcerers.