La Chaleur de L’amour & la Beaut des Paroles is an installation by Jad Melki, an Assistant Professor of Journalism and Media Studies at the American University of Beirut, that reflects a very personal experience in the designer’s family. In 1974, while Melki’s mother was in Sierra Leon, she would write letters filled with affectionate words to the his father who was at the American University of Beirut. The sculptural creation echoes his mother’s written words in the springs of an exposed mattress, one that is probably much like the one his father would lie on at night while reading one of his love’s letters.
The title of the piece, known in English as The Warmth of Love & the Beauty of Words, is extracted from one of the letters written by Melki’s mother on March 25, 1974. The moving and heartfelt installation revolves around a particular excerpt which, in translation, reads: “In the afternoon I need your presence. I need your words to comfort me. I need to feel the warmth of your love and the beauty of your words.”
The installation has great interpretative significance that the viewer can draw from its appearance and backstory. The words that make up the inner wiring of the mattress, a symbol of warmth and comfort in itself, provides the support that Melki’s parents so desired in one another’s presence. Fluorescent lights within the constructed sleeping surface bring to light the precious words that helped the designer’s father find comfort in being so far from his beloved.
Photo credit: [Micheline Nahra]
Jad Melki website
via [CollabCubed]