In his Natural History, Pliny the Elder recounts the story of the daughter of the Potter of Corinth who, by candlelight, traced the silhouette of her beloved, projected onto the wall of her chamber, on the eve of his departure for a long journey.
Her father took the imprint and dried it in the sun, just as Fanny Alloing finds consolation in sculpture after the passing of her young aunt, to whom she was deeply attached. With gentleness, like a doctor tending to a patient’s wounds, she lays thin strips of plaster on the bodies of people she knows and loves. She then removes the plaster, which has captured the form of the body, and exhibits it.
For some time now, she has been coating it with clay. Once detached from its plaster mold, the clay preserves the tiniest traces of the skin. This technique of her own invention conjures, almost magically, the density and materiality of flesh. For Fanny Alloing, plaster represents the soul, while the clay replica embodies the carnal part. In this way, sculpture becomes a source of consolation for the human condition, suspended between life and death.
Ileana Cornea – artention special issue no. 30
