Fish in, Fish Out - 2006

In Djerba, where Chaddad’s family originates, it is believed that fish protect believers from the evil eye. A hand holding five fish, connected to the expression Khamsa ou Khmiss, is painted on the walls of new houses for this purpose, to serve as a barrier for safety and protection.

While creating work for a show in Halle 14 in Leipzig, Chaddad told the curator Frank Motz about this Djerbian tradition, and Motz in turn asked him to paint five fish on the wall of the gallery. It was then that this practice was taken out of the context of traditional craft and translated into the language of white cube spaces, and contemporary art.

In Chaddad’s Fish In, Fish Out, he requires participants receiving the fish painting, either in their homes, galleries, or otherwise, to cook fish for him in exchange, which is not typically part of the Djerbian tradition. According to the French sociologist and anthropologist Marcel Mauss, a gift is irreversibly tied to the giver and acts as a spiritual artefact tying two people together. With this artwork series, Chaddad reminds us of our interest in reciprocity with respect to gifts and favors, and presents us with an even exchange of protection: Chaddad protects the participant’s home or physical space in exchange for cooked fish, sparing him from a day of hunger.

Industrial wall paint, tattoo ink

2014 Halle 14, Leipzig