PARIS, FR. Latifa Echakhch’s installations displace concrete understandings of habituated space. Her most recent exhibition at galerie kamel mennour, All around fades to a heavy sound, featured a curtain made of canvas, depicting an archetypal sky. As the fabric rolls out onto the gallery space, the perfect color blue is met with fluffy white clouds to greet the viewer. This installation accompanies two paintings of organically made ink blots, which are entitled The movement of steps slows down until perfect immobility and Arms opened and eyes closed, referring to a poetic and object constructed narrative. In a review of her exhibition in Art Daily, her work is described as, “Only when supposedly known objects have been emptied of their original meaning can they be read in new ways,” which an apt synopsis of Echakch’s methodology. Echakch’s objects appear as elements that through her translation of usage are able to hold meaning – while at the same time, they defer being understood in a literal manner, in this case, the sky is falling. This notion of story telling is one that she has considered through previous works, her carbon paper installations pointing toward the intersection between abstract art and politics, where the paper in the piece was also the material used to make underground newspapers, once used to pass on messages that would otherwise be intercepted. There is a sense of secrecy that abounds in the work, whether through hidden messages, or skewing familiar forms