FALLEN ARCHETYPES (2024)

Thameur Mejri investigates complexities of human existence by identifying parallels between paradoxical ideas of violence, innocence, guilt and shame. He blurs the boundaries between public and private in an effort to confront individual and collective values, particularly in contemporary Tunisian society. The human figure acts as a central element throughout his compositions, the vigorous manner in which Mejri places the figure onto the canvas, reflects the relationship between painting and painter, suggesting self-portraits that battle to fully emerge and reveal themselves. Through his drawings, vast compositions on stretched or floating canvases as well as murals, Thameur Mejri’s works question the notions of humanism and the construction of human beings on a social scale, by representing several paradoxes that emerge from political and cultural practices.

Fallen Archetypes is a series of several variations, as he terms it, from Mejri’s upcoming solo show. Through his newest body of work, he examines what happens in the painting and through the painting, where indifference bids farewell, and affect becomes activated; it strikes back with force.

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