Monolith of Thousand Mysteries

“The Monolith of a Thousand Mysteries comprises a sculpture and a series of oil paintings arranged around it, all formed around a textured surface resembling snake skin, symbolizing self-replication and self-reference. The sculpture integrates broken pieces and dust from the Mineral Collection of the St. Joseph French High School’s Natural Sciences Center, along with fragments of printed materials from the school’s archives, discarded as waste. Over time, it undergoes color and texture changes as the minerals combine with the composite material of the sculpture. The sculpture’s form is echoed in canvases painted with oil produced by grinding mineral waste from the same collection.

The pictorial installation evokes a mythological scene where water and land intertwine, situating the sculpture within an imaginary network of material, energetic, and cultural flows. In contrast, a schematic composition reminiscent of microbiological visualization methods positions the same sculpture as an object of scientific inquiry. The method of stretching the canvases between two wooden slats functions as a formal reference to the natural sciences boards found in the St. Joseph French High School’s archives".

Asli Seven