LLV
2018

Placing the subject matter in a place so obvious that it becomes invisible is the technique and theme of Edgar Allen Poe’s short story The Purloined Letter which was later the example used by the French philosopher and psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan to exemplify his theory of the significance chain, being the location and order of the most important symbols in our subconscious. As the master of ceremonies in his theatre, Achour directs us towards things he wants us to discover, sometimes hidden but evidently present if we are willing to look. The work is regularly a mélange of something known (comfort) and something unknown (discomfort). This duality results in the feeling that we are being exposed to something unseen but from within
(extract from the press release or the exhibition Encores, Joseph Allen)