SPIRITUAL PHENOMENA

In the spiritual Phenomena series, Malick Welli poses his models in pairs dressed in identical costumes while holding a red book and standing in front of religious buildings. These two young women dressed in a blue and white nun's habit stand on the stairs

of the congregation of Sisters of St. Joseph Cluny's convent in sant-Louis, a building falling into disrepair. The French Catholic congregation of Sisters of St. Joseph Cluny introduced the order on the island of Saint-Louis in 1819 following France's takeover of the region in the Treaty of Paris (1814). Welli captures the drama of the former convent's circular balustrade overlooking a courtyard and hovering over the sisters in the symmetrical composition.

However, one notices asymmetry in the cross at the end of one sister's necklace and a small red book in the hands of the other.

These two objects allude to symbols of devotion; one to adherence to the Catholic faith, the other a reference to Mao Tse-tung's Little Red Book, an iconic work of propaganda containing speeches and writings of the former Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party.

During the Cultural Revolution, owning the book became a way of surviving. In the Senegal context, belonging to a religious order served a similar function of survival and access to social services.

The cross and red book in Sisters of Joseph Cluny, Saint-Louis suggest that the work is not about the sisters of St. Joseph Cluny, rather it is a statement about imbalance. The artist is ultimately exploring what it means to be religious or spiritual.

By Curator Margaret Nagawa