Swornhaylinglei is not a real word, but to Dimitris Foutris it best describes the notion of an imaginary land.
A black, rectangular, box-like shell rising within the space of the gallery stands for a fantastical place, a patch of ground, a
site. Fragments align inside it to make up a narrative; an image that strains to draw boundaries against the vast expanses
of our inner world.
Random episodes come together to form a mural, with the stress falling upon a sense of the tragic surfacing from amidst
an absurd reality, of metaphysical anguish, of the fragility and vulnerability of existence.
The works probe the notion of the sacred, of identity, pain, power and death, referencing the writings of Kafka, Thomas
More’s utopia, religious parables and the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein as embodied by his work Remarks on Frazer’s
‘Golden Bough’.
The space surrounding this box-like structure functions as an antechamber, where a piece of music playing in loop
prepares the viewer to partake in a ritual.
