Lava Art Project and Patara Gallery are delighted to announce Ianitores terrestres, a solo exhibition by London-based artist Léa Porré in Tbilisi, on view from September 6th to 29th at Patara Gallery. Her debut solo show in Georgia features a new body of work that navigates the space between the sacred and the secular, exploring the passage of time as a transformative ritual.
For this immersive installation, Porré transforms Patara Gallery into a portal to another dimension. The entire room is overtaken with digital prints on the walls and a series of small wooden doors disseminated across the walls, enhancing the transformative nature of the space. On the floor, the landscape is completed with the oxidised sculptures rescued from the city’s debris, creating depth and an otherworldly quality to the room. Porré's show reimagines the gallery space as ritualistic, symbolising profound change and serving as a rite of passage by employing the figure of the door.
Rooted in the concept of cyclical time, Porre’s work uses doors as both symbolic and mythological entities that are a synecdoche of time’s passage. Historically, doors have delineated public and private spaces and marked transitions to divine realms across various cultures and mythologies, such as the Roman God Janus, who marks beginnings, endings, and transitions.
The name Ianitores terrestres references three door-related deities: Forculus, Limentinus, and Cardea, known by this name. In contraposition with Janus, a divine door keeper, these lesser-known deities, emphasise the significance of controlling liminal spaces—thresholds between different realms of existence [1] that surround us and are not necessarily divine. Thus, the physical spaces that divide us in a literal way - hinges, doors, urban planning (cardo) - and what they hide on the other side. By incorporating wooden sculptural doors, Porré underscores the importance of these thresholds into both our mundane and ritualised life.
The exhibition walls showcase Porré's 3D worldbuilding prints, which offer a deep mapping of historical and sacred sites, illustrating the power of reinterpretation and reconstruction in transforming our historical perceptions. This blending of digital and physical realms enhances the immersive nature of the exhibition, inviting viewers to embark on a journey through what remains and what awaits for us - through time.
The wallpapers in this installation act as portals themselves, drawing the viewer into alternate realities
and extending the concept of the door beyond the physical object. They function as visual doorways,
guiding the audience through various temporal and spatial dimensions. The wooden sculptures, scattered
throughout the space, serve as locks—guardians of these portals—challenging the visitor to contemplate
the thresholds they cross. Together, the wallpapers and wooden sculptures create a dynamic interplay of
passage and protection, inviting reflection on the boundaries between worlds.
"In her quest to pursue transhistorical visions, Porré blurs the boundaries between reality, dreams, and tales," said the curators. "This dynamic and ever-changing installation encourages viewers to rethink their relationship with history and opens up possibilities for a new engagement with our future."
It invites visitors to explore large-scale portals and hidden elements arranged in healing mandala-like patterns, prompting an explorative déambulation across time. Ultimately, it is a testament to the transformative power inherent in reimagining and reconstructing our understanding of the past. In the belief that art can re-contextualise figures - like the doors - in order to motivate a new relationship with our future. Through re-creating and enabling a new experience of the tropos of the past, we can change ourselves.
Photography by Vato Bakradze
Work commissioned:
• in illo tempore (2022-4)
