Reborn From Mildew Poem by Denis Mair

(for a series of 80 artworks made from mildewed photos by Mahmoud Chalbi*, titled 'Nouvelles Photos Pourries'**)
... ... ... ... ...
images ruined by dampness,
card-stock clumped together,
flecks of pigment pulled away when parted,
mottled and moldy, defaced and subverted,
vestiges of faces left by color seepage,
missing features restored by grotesque doodlings,
outlines of 'Kilroy was here' twisted like taffy,
shapes defeating all notions of image- boundaries,
oozing in time's multiple directions,
semi-coherent hybrid cymatic patterns on display,
gradients diffusing in overlapping spontaneous chromatography,
plastic deformations that laugh at the idea of breakage,
whereupon (of course!) they break according to a cryptic pattern,
creating effects of ambiguous frangibility,
by means that only the knower of the material can know.
... ... ... ... ... ...

{*Images by Mahmoud Chalbi, curator of El Teatro and 'animateur' at Galerie Aire Libre in Tunis, Tunisia }
{**10 prints will be sold in digital A4 format on 300g photo paper, numbered /10, with original signature in pencil, finished framed 30x40 cm, at the price of 150DT each}