Halab I - X are portraits of soap. Soap from Aleppo made of olive oil. A product I cherish, something I always have at home. A few years ago heavy bombings took place in Aleppo. I instinctively grabbed the last pieces of soap that I could find. A pointless response to the horror of those terrifying events, but it was the only physical link I could use at the time. I started to photograph the soaps and made a few images in my darkroom. But the project didn’t find an outcome. I was not able to give the story it’s right place.
Apparently the project had to wait for the right moment to occur.
During the confinement weeks I took the opportunity of introspection. Even if it was tough sometimes, something interesting happened. The beauty of staying home and discover what matters and what doesn’t. All of a sudden it became clear to me that my practice also could show smaller things instead of large, infinite landscapes. A new world of possibilities opened up to me. And soap got my attention once again.
So by passing through that covid crisis, the relevance of the Aleppo-project became sharper and the essential role of soap as a basic need is clearer than ever.
With fresh interest and dedication I started to search the Internet for more soap to photograph. I made new images and started printing them in my studio. This resulted in a complete new series of portraits that reflects on time and concentration, the additional time and the absorption that came with it during the confinement weeks.
A first study for the project was published in June 2020 by S.M.A.K. in Ghent as an edition. The ten images I like to present here are the illation of the study.
The images talk about light, volume and intensity. They are analogue photographs printed on drawing paper, mounted on wooden panels and then updated with watercolour. Each work is unique.
Marie Cloquet 2020