Sabella searches for the meaning of exile by exploring his relationship to his three year old daughter whom he considers 'foreign' to him. By photographing her clothes from both sides, he approaches the concept of exile from a different perspective. This In and Out approach connotes the condition people who are forced to live in exile go through as they are moved from within the space to another outer space. Furthermore, even though the artwork may have at its origin notions of political exile, it also explores personal exile - a state that many people in today's mobile world live in.

The conception that ‘identity’ implies sameness, and that meaning depends on difference are mirrored by showing the two sides of Cecile’s clothes. One side connotes her and the other side the artist himself (the father). It is a work of discovering the Other.

By photographing Cecile’s clothes he is revealing a part of who she is. Every tear and wear of the clothes, holes, stains become of significance, and grants the work an enhanced personal nature. On the other hand, we get a glimpse of Steve Sabella’s abstract reality, which later on in his project In Exile (2008), he develops a surprising level of consciousness, and reaches a new level of visual sophistication.

2008

The work has TWO aspects

Artist Book
lambda matt print 25 x 25 cm hand stitched on Fedrigoni paper 300 gr. Coptic Binding.

14 UNIQUE & different artist books + 3 AP enclosed in a custom made unique art box. Each book has a different cover, a different cut piece from the original Cécile clothes and a different Cécile drawing. Each box is unique with a different cut piece from the original Cécile clothes and a different artwork spread inside.

SEE A VIDEO OF THE ARTIST BOOK

Prints
lambda matt print 49.5 x 100 cm hand stitched on cotton
primed canvas size 60 x 110 x 3 cm
limited edition of 5 + 2 AP

“When Cécile was born forty-three months ago, it was only a question of time until we had difficulties communicating. She speaks Swiss German; I speak Arabic, and neither of us understands what the other is talking about. She is simply foreign to me.

This work attempts to establish a relationship between us by photographing her clothes from both sides—inside and outside. A cloth, no matter what, will always have its other side. This mirrors the basic fact that in essence, Cecile and I will always have a connection. The book gives chance to notice and sense similarities, differences, and contrasts among many other nuances.

Since we moved to live in London from Jerusalem my daughter feels out of place. For the first time, Cécile and I have started to communicate using our own language—the language of exile”.

This work has been reviewed in New Vision: Arab Contemporary Art in the 21st Century (Thames & Hudson). By editors Hossein Amirsadeghi, Nada Shabout & Salwa Mikdadi.

DOWNLOAD Christie's Launch Press Release Oct. 2009. PDF

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Steve Sabella - The Journey of Artistic Interrogation and Introspection
Retrospective Review by Yasmin El Rashidi
Contemporary Practices Journal, VI, 2010

It was in that moment, in the sharing of the sameness of a view of exile, that a language was developed between father and child, between one exile and another. And it was in that moment, that a realisation of relativity and perspective was formed. In Cecile Elise Sabella (2008), Sabella photographs the fabric of Cecile’s clothes from both sides, making testimony to the science of “the other side” and the duality of exile. In this work we bear witness to a father, who is an artist, who is brought to understanding in a single moment, that no matter what, there is another side; and a connection, even in silence, with Cecile.

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In Exile & Cecile Elise Sabella reviewed in New Vision - Arab Contemporary Art in the 21st Century (Thames & Hudson & TransGlobe Publishing).

More recently Sabella has explored the concept of ‘exile’ from a different perspective: his daughter. As he touchingly explains: "When Cécile was born...it was only a question of time until we had difficulties communicating. She speaks Swiss German [the language of Sabella’s wife], I speak Arabic, and neither of us understands what the other is talking about. She is simply foreign to me." Sabella’s response was a series of photographs of the material of his daughter’s clothes, from outside and inside. "This work attempts to establish a relationship between us by photographing her clothes from both sides – inside and outside. A cloth, no matter what, will always have its other side. This mirrors the basic fact that in essence, Cécile and I will always have a connection."

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