Sharon Kivland’s exhibition of 120 hand drawings refers to the republican calendar that came into force in France in 1792, which introduced a completely new calendar based on the decimal system. Natural phenomena, living creatures and plants were decisive. Instead of the references to gods and kings of the Gregorian calendar, a reform-oriented instrument was created, which, however, did not last long.
It is a calendar with natural names of seasons, plants and animals. Days ending with a 5 were assigned to an animal, all other days to a plant or mineral. Although the calendar actually begins in Vendémiaire, the September of the Gregorian calendar, Sharon Kivland has painted a plant from the calendar throughout the year 2023 (or CCXXXII5), beginning in the month of Pluvîose, a time of rain and sadness. One that has a complicated root system. The Bloody Radicals refer to the late Latin radicalis (Latin radix, radic, “root”).
They are both figurative and political, referring to reforms and universal suffrage, and later to the extremes of political thoughts and actions. Sharon Kivland’s Bloody Radicals are bloody, bleeding from every root, torn from the ground. There are nine for each month, so they form a corresponding grid. Each month is accompanied by a female allegorical figure, based on the illustrations by Louis Lafitte, engraved in 1792-94 by Salvatore Tresca.
With the kind support of:
