A document, a script, a parchment, a scroll.
A "palimpsest" is a manuscript page, whether from a scroll or a book, that has had its text scraped or washed off to be used again as another document. During the 6th century when parchment was not readily available, a page was often reused by scrapping off the previous writing. With the passing of time, traces of the earlier writing would show through and scholars where able to decipher earlier texts. Today, in colloquial language, the term is frequently used in architecture and archaeology to denote an object made or worked upon for one purpose and later reused for another. In forensic science, the term refers to the reconstruction of events, and in nature the landscape remodels and reshapes based on its previous forms.
Ultimately, Palimpsests informs us of the reality of the past and by studying the traces and remains it is possible to make a reconstruction. In a figurative way, a palimpsest reflects its own history. In the medical field, the brain can be considered the mightiest natural palimpsest of all!
Palimpsest is applied to art through the medium of collage (and decollage) which emerged in the early 20th century, during the early stages of modernism. The construction of a palimpsest necessarily on a 2-dimensional surface, means that destruction is an important part of the process. To scratch, to erase, to destroy, delete, wipe out, undo, damage. Construction necessitates destruction, one cannot exist without the other. The construction phase provided by the layering of materials echoes the layering of experiences and memories. It informs the artwork and transforms it in a historical document.
Contemporary artists, like Anton Unai, Jacques Villegle, Kurt Schwitters, just to name a few; have utilised palimpsest references in their work as a way of communicating current times - assisted by processes of gathering discarded materials, eroding surfaces and creating layered compositions. In the words of Anton Unai – ‘gathering materials from the street is like gathering forgotten dreams.
Palimpsest for me took a personal journey.
