AKINCI is proud to present the duo exhibition “One Meter Under” by Inge Meijer (1986, Netherlands) and Stéphanie Saadé (1983, Lebanon). The artists find shared ground in their work through installation, video, photography, and drawing. In a poetic manner, the exhibition addresses themes of childhood, reflections on home, memory, and cultivated nature. The accompanying text for the exhibition is written by Stéphanie Saadé.
When Inge Meijer invited me to share an exhibition at AKINCI, she introduced herself as the owner of one of my works and as the mother of Zevrah. This introduction immediately created a sense of intimacy between us, even though we had never met before. These two elements shaped the way we built our exhibition and influenced the title we selected: One Meter Under. I suggested this title to Inge because we both have young children. Spending time with my daughter Noa makes me realise she sees some things more beautifully than I do. I believe this is due to that one metre—the gradually or rapidly shrinking 100 centimetres—that separates us. This inspired me to try and see the world from her perspective, sharing in her sense of wonder. I still remember how beautiful I found certain things at her age—or rather, at her height. Remembering how we viewed the world then could help us appreciate it as a vivid feeling in the present, rather than a distant, nostalgic memory.
My piece The Day in Order, which hangs in Zevrah’s room, consists of a 30 cm ruler with its back hand-painted to depict a cloudy blue sky. In the context of a child’s room, it condenses the typical blue wall with white clouds into a single, small object. When I created it in 2014, it evoked the possibility of daydreaming during work. The piece offers a lesson in humility, inviting us closer to the ground—a recurring theme that connects Inge and me.
The exhibition also features works like Blow Softly by Inge Meijer, an installation of willow branches forming a hut, inside which a choir sings for a group of cows and calves. This work disrupts the usual hierarchy between humans, animals, and plants, enabling spectators to simply ‘be’ as humans. Other pieces, such as The MoMA Plant Collection and Pyramid, explore the relationships between nature and art and the layers of growth and time, respectively.
Our exhibition was conceived and is being presented during a period of great unrest, violence, and destruction. These turbulent times permeate our consciousness and resonate in our work.
- Stéphanie Saadé, December 2024
Biographies
Inge Meijer studied Fine Art at ArtEZ University of the Arts in Arnhem. In 2017, she completed a residency at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam and has exhibited at renowned institutions such as the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. Her work has gained international recognition, and she is set to participate in a residency at ISCP in New York in 2025.
Stéphanie Saadé graduated in Fine Arts from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and undertook a postgraduate programme at the China Academy of Arts. She has been an artist-in-residence at the Jan van Eyck Academie and the Cité Internationale des Arts. Her work has been exhibited in leading institutions, including the Centre Pompidou and the Centraal Museum Utrecht.
