Emii Alrai: A Lake as Great as Its Bones | Maximillian William
Emii Alrai, born in Blackpool, went somewhere glamorous and exciting last November. The artist was invited to a residency at the Villa Medici in Rome. Back in London, she’s recreated a very specific part of her trip for this show at Maximillian William.
As well as being an artist, Alrai is a museum registrar. When in Rome, she visited Lake Nemi, an area rich in archaeological remains from classical times. The London exhibition merges and alchemises these strands of her experience: the gallery is recast as a fake archaeology museum, with fictional exhibits. It’s a cool, thought-provoking conceit I’ve never seen done before.
The half-arch of volcanic-looking material through which the visitor enters the “museum” is superficially impressive. Close up, it’s made of incompletely-painted polystyrene. The paint on the earthy-looking walls is dabbed on with a sponge. The ancient-looking reliefs, depicting wavy-looking figures, are made from straw and metal wire; their backing is plywood stained to look like teak.
Inside a vitrine are some small gold, silver and copper objects, pinned to a cardboard backing. It’s the fakery of this exhibit in particular that’s stayed with me. It brought me back to the countless times that I’ve stared into similar glass cabinets at small scraps of shaped metal, read and re-read the accompanying description, tried and failed to make the mental leap between the unimpressive object I see - and its ancient original purpose. Its maker, its wearer. All lost. Seen once and forgotten.
By stripping this vitrine of its labels and amping up the fakery, Alrai made this connection in my mind. I’ve always felt implicated by my failure to enjoy these hours-long museum visits. But this tendency is also why I enjoy a tightly focused one-room art show so much more. My engagement is deeper. When next in Rome, I’ll pass up making another attempt at staring into vitrines and trying to find meaning in them, and will look for some commercial galleries instead.
Emii Alrai: A Lake as Great as Its Bones is at Maximillian William (London) 18 July - 07 September 2024