Vik Muniz - Imaginaria (Bilingual Edition)

Exhibition Catalogue Vik Muniz - Imaginaria, presented at the Collection Lambert, Avignon (1er jul. - 29 sep. 2019).

Entitled “Imaginária,” the series to be displayed at the Collection Lambert consists in 19 photographs of saints as represented by the most renowned artists, such as Saint Agnes by Simon Vouet, Saint Augustine by Philippe de Champaigne, and Saint Sebastian by José de Ribera.

Drawing on installations with incongruous yet common objects—sugar, ketchup, toys, thread, cut-outs from magazines, etc.—Muniz’s photographs represent images from our collective memory. Each one is a new sensory and affective space where we can question the notions of original and copy that have existed since the dawn of mechanical reproduction. By audaciously re-appropriating icons from art history and our media-driven society, Muniz opens the possibility of a new and jubilant relationship with images whose meaning and originality have been exhausted by their reproduction and global dissemination.

With this new series, Muniz pursues past work by questioning the ways in which saints have fascinated us, examining the history of their representation in art. At the same time, he questions how works of art relate to the sacred.