Repeat After Me, Subtitles—
Aïda Eltorie
Repeat After Me, Subtitles –. Trionfi Series, 2022
The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH), University of Oxford, UK
“Repeat After Me, Subtitles—” is a limited edition series of posters born from the Trionfi Series created by Aïda Eltorie. This portion of the series, #5. #0, and #13, were commissioned to commemorate one hundred years of King Tutankhamun at the Ashmolean Museum organized by The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH), University of Oxford.
The artist is narrating the story of repetition by drawing three trump cards that reveal the Eighth Wonder of the World, King Kong. Each poster resembles an actionable card of fate and free will. Aïda started the concept in 2010 for the Manifesta 8 Film Programme in Murcia, Spain. Entitled “Fabrication: Redesigning Aesthetic Hybrids to Assist Collective Debates,” the programme was designed for the Chamber of Public Secrets curatorial collective, The Rest is History. During that time, Aïda focused on the aftermath of civil war and forced migration from North Africa to Northern Europe between 1958 to 2010.
Similarly, the tragic, sympathetic, innocent beast who will not offend unless provoked, lives quietly in solitude, and is captured by the west to be exhibited as a wonder-lust, similar to Howard Carter’s finding of King Tutankhamun in 1922, and sent off to be exhibited as the wondrous young king, now unexpectedly found, is contrasted with the monstrous beast taken out of his context, resulting in the rise of a misconception. The antagonist is the curious west, now at the mercy of a monstrous creature whose quiet solitude was disrupted and forced to exile, causing his fall.
Depictions are extracted from various elements; whether vintage movie posters, symbols of life, death, and tradition. An arrow occupies the background in the first two prints, pointing upward, and mimicking the lining of King Tutankamun’s second wooden coffin out of three, marked by a golden overlay with an inlay of glass cloisonné mimicry, which is a technique originating in Egypt prior to 1800 B.C., beginning with gold ornaments inlaid with small pieces of genuine gemstones. This mark is consistent in the first two posters suggesting elements of the living world, and its eventual continuity in the afterlife.
The depiction of King Kong in the first poster, ‘the hierophant confined,’ was the start of the “Repeat After Me, Subtitles -” concept, originally inspired from a movie poster done by Polish artist Marek Masinski for the 1968 film remake of King Kong in Japan, directed by Inoshiro Honda. The lining of blue kohl around King Kong’s eyes is the only other overlay of ancient Egypt while the colour reinstates the undertones of the afterlife, and Osiris, the god of the underworld. The golden frame confines the beast, the lines are blurred between being captured and its resistance.
In the second poster, ‘the fool’s journey,’ the sphinx bracelet held in King Kong’s left hand mimicking the struck of love found between the beast and the female protagonist in distress, as he climbs the Empire State Building, here replaced by that same golden frame of escape. Ann Darrow, a struggling actress, later becomes the first to see the sweetness of the male protagonist who should have never been taken out of his context and antagonized by man’s greed.
The sphinx object is one of nineteen objects repatriated to Egypt by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2011 as one of the many stolen artifacts from King Tutankhamun’s tomb. Hand drawn in watercolor, the colour blue is once again repurposed in lapis lazuli, which was commonly used in ancient Egyptian jewelry, and sourced from the Badakshan mines in Afghanistan. Elements of trade, wealth, and greed are tapering against rabid adoration.
The last poster of the three is of a ‘misunderstood death,’ where the greatly provoked beast comes to his demise, and his unbound dignity rises to his afterlife across the underworld’s ancient starry tomb skies. Various parallels occur between the great King of Egypt and the fictional, oversized protagonist. The background resembles the mimicry of a colonial red, white, and blue, and the beast might be put to rest or rise from the ashes in-continuity to an afterlife. Is it the end, or is only a rebirth unknown?
Commemorating the simple concept that history tends to repeat itself, it is being adapted into a 78-card collection, edition of 20, studying the art of trionfi card playing where the cards feature the personification of a place or an abstraction that had several esoteric origins in ancient traditions, including ancient Egyptian, Kabbalah, Indic-Tantra, and i-Ching divinations.
A game of fate at play.
Image citation from left to right:
“Repeat After Me, Subtitles –The Hierophant Confined [lo ierofante cofinato] #5” 2022, Trionfi Series. Limited Edition of 20 w/ 3 AP. Art Paper, 50 x 70 cm, 300 gms.
“Repeat After Me, Subtitles –The Fool’s Journey [il viaggio dello sciocco] #0” 2022, Trionfi Series. Limited Edition of 20 w/ 3 AP. Art Paper, 50 x 70 cm, 300 gms.
“Repeat After Me, Subtitles –Death Misunderstood [morte fraintesa] #13” 2022, Trionfi Series. Limited Edition of 20 w/ 3 AP. Art Paper, 50 x 70 cm, 300 gms.