Envisioned as a geological epic of our universe, Solastalgia: Archaeologies of Loss, by French artist Abdelkader Benchamma, conjures enigmatic worlds and elemental forces at the precipice of transformation, evoking a yearning for worlds yet to be. Like an archaeologist, Benchamma unearths universal symbols from mythologies, superstitions, beliefs, and natural phenomena. In doing so, he creates an elusive topography that centres on our interconnectedness with the natural world, both revealed and concealed.
Gestural and lyrical, as well as dense and detailed, Benchamma’s predominantly monochrome murals, drawings, and installations are abstractions of tectonic movements and gravitational forces that harness the dynamism of the universe. Indebted to the language of physics, his line-work evokes the arrow of time, marking a fateful trajectory of perpetual motion. Imbued with studies of natural philosophy, geology, astronomy, alchemy, art history, and existential literature, his works reflect an encyclopedic repertoire of interests.
Benchamma deploys an organic and intuitive methodology in creating his large drawings and murals. He works without predetermined sketches by dividing his surfaces in smaller areas as he builds the compositions. As he works across the paper or the walls, what began as a fragmented landscape becomes an interwoven topography. The drawings are charged with a sense of vitality, surging with energy. The limbs of trees stretch outwards, the veins of marbled rocks pulsate, and waterfalls roll against the flesh of the earth. At times, these images of natural wonders extend beyond the frame and pour onto the walls, transforming the space into an otherworldly realm, both sublime and illusive.
Together, these works expand our perception and invite us to look inwards and retrieve memories of landscapes that would otherwise be overlooked or lost. An architect of unruly universes and an archaeologist of dormant beliefs, Benchamma unravels the relationships between humanity and the cosmos, both of which are equally endowed with the generative powers of creation, change, and destruction. The title of the exhibition, Solastalgia, invites us to contemplate, with an elegiac sense of urgency, our disappearing natural world.
Solastalgia: Archaeologies of Loss is Benchamma’s first major solo exhibition in Canada, and the most comprehensive to date in North America, featuring existing and newly created works, as well as an immersive, site-specific mural for The Power Plant’s Fleck Clerestory Commissioning Program, titled as above, so below, 2023.
