© Laurent Lecat


Strips of polished brass, strung together, display the first stanzas, in Greek, of the poem Ithaka (1911) by Constantin Cavafy.

A Greek from Egypt (Alexandria), this major poet and champion of a certain Hellenism gives us his version of a journey whose end is less important than the road itself.

« As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
angry Poseidon — don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body. (…)

May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbors
you’re seeing for the first time. (…) »
(Translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard)

Embossed brass, rings
250 x 310 cm