We are pleased to present Neïla Czermak Ichti’s third solo exhibition, “Shoot from the Heart,” which echoes her current exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo.
The Angels on the Left Shoulder
a text by Maymouna Baradji, artist and poet
He said, “Watch out, blood’s going to spill onto the paper—catch the drop.”
Where else should I put it if not here?
I’m not frightened by horror movies anymore, once I unlock the padlock inside me. When the monsters from the stories come to curl up inside to heal their wounds and tear off the costumes sewn right into their flesh. When they tell me about life before black-and-white movies.
Listen, there’s a thorn going up
there under your foot.
From the source, a geyser of blood flows,
its ink spreads,
splashing everything in its path.
The jeans are stained black.
So are the fingertips.
The poison creeps up the leg,
the heart rate quickens.
Neither tears nor screams can counteract its chemistry.
The body heats up.
Breath still coming in gasps, uneven.
And the metal wings tearing the skin on the back.
The blood has already soaked into them, but they grapple,
stretching along the back, bent with spasms.
The darkened gaze can barely make out the distance.
And that thorn blocking the foot that keeps growing,
feeding on you.
There was no more room on the walls for words, so we swallowed them all.
I saw hands clasped, outstretched,
gathering into clusters, then feathers, then wings.
Hands of iron, water, blood, and ink—
yours, then mine.
There is her and him and the others.
I recognize the wrinkles,
the scars,
the stained nails, the henna at the tips of the fingers.
The mark my face leaves in the palm of your hands,
like the clasped hands of a dou’a.
There is the hand on the heart for loved ones.
The hand that refuses to let go of the other.
The one that never moved.
The one that touched every life.
The one that knew only one, short and stolen.
They are all gathered as feathers forming wings on your back.
They tell you:
Let all the ink seep into the ground.
Let the sky rise the hollowed-out body up.
Let it be.
It is far too heavy down here for the angels of the night.
Neïla Czermak Ichti
I kinda suck, and you suck too, that’s what creatures do, 2024
Acrylic on canvas
450 cm in diameter
Neïla Czermak Ichti
Solace / Crow’s embrace, 2024
Acrylic, gouache and sand on cotton fabric
180 x 150 cm
Exhibition view, Shoot From The Heart – photo Aurélien Mole
Neïla Czermak Ichti
Watch your back (but first, a moment of hilarity), 2024
Acrylic on canvas
208 x 95 cm
Neïla Czermak Ichti
Etoile du Kef (Saliha), 2024
acrylic on wood and rotating mechanism
122 x 40 x 40 cm
Neïla Czermak Ichti
Saliha, 2024
acrylic on wood
60 cm in diameter
Neïla Czermak Ichti
Malak délivrant Malak, 2025
acrylic on canvas
147 x 190 cm
photo Aurélien Mole