What comes first/ I keep an eye on you

Date 2021

Height (cm) 14

Length (cm)9

Depth (cm)2

Weight (g)300

Materials And Techniques: Murano glass eyes made by lamp, cut and burnt paper, paint, resin.

Subject/Description:

Regarding the theme proposed in the creation of the notebook "What comes first?" by Simon Njami, the artist Cosima Montavoci does not find that the only solution is the answer to these existential questions. The eyes have many symbologies but are associated here with the subjective response of Sartre and Camus: to save one's own country or mother? In no case will the answer be correct or wrong, but it will lead instead to discovering the difference between looking inside or outside oneself and one's individual interests.
The notebook houses 34 eyes in Murano glass, made by the artist, all different but all brown. The paper left white, contrary to what normally happens, is perforated and burned, as if the incandescent glass had touched it, to let open; as you flip through the pages, more and more eyes staring at the person holding the notebook. All the questions proposed by the theme bounce back to the observer.

Archival Fund: AtWork

Archive Number: 442