2018 Adel Abdessemed Shams

Shams (meaning ‘the sun’ in Arabic) shows, in an environment that subsumes its visitors, forced labourers surrounded by men with weapons: bodies fashioned from clay, tormented, exploited, weighed down by their burden. These men of the earth, heavily charged, may be said to evoke perilous working conditions (in the mines, gold miners, construction workers... or past wars). Through the material used, they bring to mind a phrase from the Bible: ‘for you are dust, and to dust you shall return’, but also Surah Ar-Rum Thirty from the Quran: ‘And of His signs is that He created you from dust’. Clay, the material used in Shams, is not cooked: this monumental creation is therefore destined to a rapid disintegration, and must be reconstructed for each exhibition. For Lyon, Shams has been produced on-site by a dedicated team, and presented in a version that fills the entire space of the third floor of the museum.