Enter the Mayan Jungle Through Built Worlds and a Hologram

Anima from Prune Nourry on Vimeo.

A recreation of the Mayan jungle, through hologram and sculpture, hopes to create a physical space for enlightenment at Brooklyn’s Invisible Dog Gallery. Multidisciplinary artist Prune Nourry’s latest installation, Anima, merges art, magic, and anthropology through a modern-day mythological adventure. Best known for her Terracotta Daughters sculptures in China, exploring contemporary anthropology, with Anima, Nourry creates a contained spiritual world linked to the Maya in Chiapas.

Working closely with anthropologist Valentine Losseau, Nourry investigates “what makes us human, and the cultural beliefs and perspectives that are shaping our view of the world,” she tells The Creators Project. The show exists in three parts, a tunnel, a pond with a sculpture of a large Olmec head, and a hologram. The tunnel was made by artist Takao Shiraishi and scenographer Benjamin Gabrié to transport the viewer into a new realm. Nourry says, “It’s dark, tortuous, and sets your mind out of reality. Then you arrive on the pond with a large broken head sculpture I sculpted, a mix between an Olmec head and the portrait of K’in Obregon, the Lacandon Mayan character.”

“After two trips in the Lacandon Mayan forest together, Valentine and I decided to recreate the atmosphere and inner world of this jungle,” says Nourry. The two thought it was important to make the installation in collaboration with other artists and share in the vision and soul of the installation. “A soul/ghost is flying around and animates the space, playing with the spectator. This ghost was created by the magician Etienne Saglio.” Raphael Navarro, a French magician, made the hologram. And depending on how you experience it, in person or through video link, you follow the spirit or the dancer’s movement through a repetitive ceremonial swirl. The choreography is directed by Raphael Navarro and Clement Dubailleul, and performed by dancer Aude Arago.

Anima brings to light the collective nature of the ceremonial. Nourry and friends place emphasis on the importance of the indigenous and spiritual in our modern lives, without coming across as heavy-handed or religious, but deeply clue into the “magic” of wondrous places that actually exist in the world. The Creators Project asked Nourry a few pointed questions about her installation:

The Creators Project: How is the story of K’in Obregon, referenced in your project description, made relevant through Anima?

Prune Nourry: K’in Obregon is the key character that inspired the exhibition. Valentine Losseau actually met him before he died in 2011, and I met his children when I went to the forest with her. His story caught my attention as he represents a strong paradox. Every Lacandon Mayan, from the day they’re born, gets an animal totem. And every night in their life, they turn into animals in their dream. So for them being compared to an animal is normal, they are animists and there is no difference between humans and animals; we all have souls. But K’in Obregon, in 1937, was brought to France to be exhibited in a human zoo during a World Fair, where it was pejorative to compare him to an animal through a naturalist point of view. And it’s this paradox that caught my attention and made us create this exhibition with Valentine.

What was the biggest challenge you overcame in designing and realizing Anima?

We had a small timeline and a small budget to create and build a monumental installation, so we were lucky enough to get many volunteers who believed in the project and came to help and add their amazing energy to the whole piece. To me the process is as important as the final piece.

How do you hope people react when they see the installation? 

So far, it looks like our will to send them to a totally different place works. Once they are in it, they are taking their time, staying in front of the pond and the dancing soul, having a meditative moment!

What's next for you as an artist?

I am currently working on a long feature documentary, Terracotta Daughters, about gender preference and human selection, based on my triptych of projects: Holy Daughters, Holy River in India, and Terracotta Daughters in China. My editor is Anne-Sophie Bion, who notably edited the awarded film, The Artist, and we will release the movie next year. I am also working on a solo show at the Paris Asian Art Museum, Musée Guimet, for Spring 2017, with new installations, a colloquium, and a book.

Anima is on display at Brooklyn's Invisible Dog Gallery through April 14, 2016. Click here to learn more about the installation, and for more from the artist, click here.

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