“When the sun will run its ultimate road
fire will devour beasts plants and stones
fire will devour the fire and its perfect circle
when the perfect circle will catch fire no angel will manifest itself STOP
The Sun will extinguish itself in the midst of its daughters
…”
The Arab Apocalypse
‘a yellow sun a black sun’ is an exhibition about the sun’s dual nature as both life-giver and fire-dealer, as described in Etel Adnan’s book of poetry, The Arab Apocalypse. In the works exhibited, the yellow sun unveils the beauty of Lebanese mountains, Roman and Greek temples, gods such as Helios. It produces golden, yellow, white, pink, and orange light. In contrast, other works show the destructive nature of the black sun dominating Beirut’s sky, with its incendiary power inscribing the city in a cycle of violence, and each trip around the star bringing new fires and destructions with it. ‘Adnan’s representation of war is set in motion by the sun’s dual function as life/light-giver and death/fire-dealer. Light produces scores of offspring then rays become bullets, missiles’. (Simonton)
When asked why she chose the sun as The Arab Apocalypse’s main protagonist, Adnan replied by saying: “I don’t know how children dream, but in their drawings, there is very often a sun. The sun is extraordinary. Just like a sunset when the whole world becomes a festival of colors.”