Liliane Karnouk
In: Time Machine: Anciet Egypt and Contemporary Art. Edited by James Putnam and W. Vivian Davies. Published by the Trustees of the British Museum and the Institute of International Visual Arts, 1994, p. 54.
There is a Bara legend from Madagascar which tells the story of how death came about. The first man and first woman were asked at the beginning of time to choose between two deaths. The first was to die like the moon and be reborn over and over again. The second was to die like a tree and regenerate through seeds.
According to the legend most men and women chose the latter, so did the Egyptians ... but not quite. The ancient Egyptians defied death by becoming Osiris. They died like trees and became immortal like the moon.
My work over the years has always paid homage to that defiance. My choice of materials has constantly been in tune with the Egyptian tradition of assuming and integrating polarities: the spear and the test tube; cast-iron fences and the growing cells of a palm tree.