Figures of Silence. Jephan de Villiers (ENG/FR)

Jephan de Villiers’ book is an invitation to break away from the alienating burdens of everyday life and immerse ourselves in an imaginary civilisation. Here, we set out with the artist on a journey to encounter a lost world, where nature and culture were once closely entwined, where humanity lived in harmony with the elements. Trees and water are of central importance throughout the artist’s work. Whether as a reminder of the origins of life or as testimonies of ancestral beliefs and practices, nothing has been invented in this singular world of sculptures. Everything in his work has been composed and transferred from a forgotten world. His creations are made from materials derived from natural objects that have fallen to the ground: splinters of wood, bark, water chestnuts, rays’ eggs, mysterious sea balls washed up by the ocean and fragments of horseshoe crab shells. For the artist, the Time he devotes to his work means being alone, in the strictest sense of the word. It is Time spent scouring the ground, in search of materials gathered “on the edge of the world”. His work of one of memory, a tribute to all those on the look-out, watching over our forgotten world.