Angelica Mesiti — À propos — Slash Paris

The silent video Tossed by Waves takes its name from the Latin motto of the city of Paris Fluctuat nec mergitur (“Tossed by the waves but never sunk”). This medieval assertion accompanying the emblem of a ship in full sail on the coat of arms of the city of Paris, became a symbol of resilience after the terrorist attacks of November 2015. During the last three years, the 19th century monument at the centre of Place de la République in Paris came to acquire a new meaning for the city, becoming a gathering point and a spontaneous memorial. In Mesiti’s video the camera slowly caresses the surfaces of the monument showing extreme close-ups of the carvings around the bases of the unseen allegorical sculptures of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity and revealing some details of the bronze low-reliefs illustrating major events marking the history of the French Republic —such as the taking of la Bastille in 1789. The monument is never fully revealed, here and there graffiti, spray paint and dry flowers accumulated in the year and a half after the attacks bring us constantly to the present time, in which this monument became a canvas for the habitants to illustrate their trauma and express solidarity.

Using performance, video, and installation to produce forms of intimate storytelling, Angelica Mesiti has a particular interest in non-verbal forms of communication, such as Morse code, sign language or the “whistling languages” of the Mediterranean. She uses non-linear cinematic strategies to create immersive and meditative experiences investigating how the body is used as a vessel for expression and communication.