CAROLLE BENITAH

Carolle's work is described as "a subjective interpretation of childhood memories and a refashioning of image and identity".

Carolle often describes her feeling of isolation and alienation when she looks through family photos of her from when she was a child. Benitah began her career as a fashion designer and set out to amend and rework her childhood photos with methods such as cutting, sticking, sewing, collaging. Her extreme minute details that she incorporates displays an almost re-connection and de-connection the the photographic archive to her childhood. Carolle embellishes and embroids her work with thread that is either red, black or gold; also adding beads.

Benitah describes that "The precise and slow process is a metaphor for remaking myself and for the passage of time". She further on explains that "The red thread is a connecting thread, leading me through the maze of my past". Benitah uses the red through her childhood photos. "It's the colour of violent emotions, of blood, and of sexuality."
Benitah uses the black thread for the photos of her in her adolescence. "Adolescence is represented by black for the anguish associated with this period of my life.
The colour gold is used for the photographs of herself during her adulthood. She describes how the colour gold is "the colour of affective ties, of fidelity and of dis-incarnation".

Benitah describes her work as an exorcism, as she explores how the memories of her childhood aids her in understanding the woman she has become. She also believes that the past is never permanent but its constantly being evolved and constructed by the present.

Leave a Reply