In a city that is fast developing, there is an ever present tension between the city and nature. However, promising a happy co-existence between man and nature are real estate agents through advertisements that promote their luxurious projects, which are supposedly nestled in the lap of nature.
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It was one such advertisement on a bill board in Mumbai that led to French artist Soazic Guezennec’s new line of work titled ‘Happy Homes’ exhibited at Alliance Francaise de Trivandrum.
Amused by clever slogans used in real estate advertisements to attract buyers, her works are a series of imaginary architectural plans where nature dominates cities.
A resident of Mumbai, Soazic has observed the city grow into an urban jungle. “A number of advertisements used the comfort of nature to sell concrete. I wondered how it would be if they were speaking the truth.
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“I have seen nature being demolished only for concrete towers to rise. I witnessed the start of a sky rise project near my residence in which the forest was razed. On losing their living space, leopards started entering my residency.”
This is when she decided to study the battlefield between nature and man; the fragility and resilience of nature in an urban environment. The study led her in and out of various real estate offices collecting catalogues of their upcoming projects. Most of them she noted promised fine living amidst the lap of Mother Nature.
Handing out a visiting card which has Soazic Guezennec, CEO, Subjective Architecture Realty printed on it, Soazic says she has started an imaginary real estate firm. Each painting that is on display at the exhibition is a project by the agency. The slogans are real; they are lines from advertisements. “I have used phrases like ‘Lake view’ and ‘Night view’ to name buildings and have painted works of my interpretation of what a building with such a name should look like. It’s a parody on a real estate agency.”
So while a painting of a real estate project titled Oceanopolis with the tagline, ‘bring the outdoors in’ suggests the prospect of the sea with its aquatic life within the premises, Tree Tower shows a concrete tower built within a giant tree bark.
Sky Nest has a tower with a bird cage on top, while Cathedral Colony has majestic mountains set amidst a slum.
Soazic, who is not new to Kerala, says realtors here try to sell ‘rooms with views’. She has three posters that are inspired by the real estate advertisements in Kerala. During the Kochi Muziris Biennale, she pasted few of her posters in and around Kochi. “While some just walked by, others who stopped to have a look were confused. But they soon understood the idea behind it – can Nature be put between fences?”
She adds with a smile that there were inquiries regarding the project and some from students of architecture who wanted to study her style of designing.
Apart from posters, Soazic has created animated videos that turn buildings into waterfalls and buildings into branches of a banyan tree. There are also printed flyers containing information about the various projects by the firm and installations too. Although beautiful, her pieces are nonetheless full of political meaning and aim at raising the ecological awareness of the viewer.
Her works are mostly influenced by her travels. She has gone deep into the forests of the Amazon, trekked up the Himalayas, gone cross the deserts of Africa… While the trek in the Himalayas inspired a video of a melting mountain, the expedition to Amazonia brought about a series of paintings of “red forest”.
The artist believes that one should seek inspiration from nature. She cites a group of architects in Zimbabwe who have adapted the principles of a termite mound to build eco-friendly buildings. “These buildings despite no conventional air-conditioning or heating, stays regulated throughout the year.”
Soazic’s collection of works is on display at Art Gallery, Alliance Francaise de Trivandrum until March 15.