The Gulf -
Michael Kay Louis
[Art
performance - circa 1990]
These postcards were sent
to me by Michael Kay Louis and document an art performance from
the early 1990's entitled 'The Gulf'.
Here, Mike pictured with
partner Louise, explores the gulf that exists between different
cultures, nations, sexes
and individuals. The event was reviewed in the New York Times
and continues to raise the fundamental questions Mike has been
asking since his early pieces in the 1980's.
Ex-Leeds Fine Art students circa
1980-83 who may recall some of Mike's early performances or
the Kalashnikov rifle he constructed in the industrial design
workshop, will be wondering whether his Arab head-dress is the
same desert scarf he used to wear back
in his student days?
Leeds
Fine Art 94k image
Mike is currently helping his
son Brian continue the family tradition by helping him put together
a multimedia performance piece for a show in Portugal. [October
2001]
Desert
Scarf - Mike Comments
The scarf is called a Quarfier.
I have three of them. The different colors and designs denote
the different countries, groups, tribes. I have a Hashemie from
Jordan (B&W). A Harith from Syria (red) and a Palestinian (B&W).
All of these I got from the countries. The Palestinian quafier
came from Shatila refugee camp outside Beirut. That was wiped
out in the Israeli push into Lebanon '82.
As T E Lawrence said in Seven
Pillars of Wisdom "Once this fractured dust has settled on your
soul it will never leave you." I stayed at the Hotel in Damascus
where he wrote that . A French colonial shambles full of mosquitoes
and stained furniture. I was better off in the refugee camp,
it was safer too!
Michael Kay Louis can be contacted
at Michael kay [burmha@yahoo.com]
