Annabelle Arlie

  • Tarbes, France
Annabelle Arlie’s work speaks to the complex temporality of humankind. She assembles contemporary cultural objects with artisanal, primitive ones in a manner that can collectively reference the Totem—engaging the concept of a prior belief or symbol that has been reconstituted in an updated context and allowed to assume new meanings and significances as a result. These assemblages speak to the paradoxical nature of human existence and abide by what is sometimes referred to as the riddle of the Sphinx: « What walks on four feet in the morning, two in the afternoon and three at night?” Oedipus answered: « Man: as an infant, he crawls on all fours; as an adult, he walks on two legs; in old age, he uses a ‘walking’ stick.