2014, 3 channel video and sound, running time 23:40
Ga’s three-channel video Four Thousand Blocks is built from a number of interwoven narratives and
metaphors, focusing on the role of images and written texts in the creation of living memory.
On the center screen, Ga manipulates transparent images on a lightbox, narrating her dives and her
meeting with archaeologists, weaving links between Pharos Island, the divine figure of the Egyptian
god Thoth and early attempts to translate The Torah. As the narrative unfolds, the viewer watches the
development of a photograph in a darkroom on the left hand screen, while the artist’s hands on the
right hand screen painstakingly composes a text with lead letters.
The viewer sees the results of these two processes at the entrance to the video. The letterpress print,
Pharmakon, tells the story of Thoth presenting his diverse inventions for humankind to the King of
Egypt such as written language, the calendar, dice. Dice are also the subject of the photograph,
Projection Harbor, that Ga develops in the darkroom, which hangs adjacent to the letterpress print.
Video stills & Installation view, M-Museum, Belgium.
Projection Harbor, photographic print.Pharmakon, letter press print.
Pharmakon + Projection Harbor, Install view, Le Grand Café, Saint-Nazaire
Four Thousand Blocks, 4 min excerpt from Ellie Ga on Vimeo.