CITIES OF LOST MEMORY: ARTWORKS

Alexandre Mitchell is an author, and archaeologist and an artist. His drawings of historical events and figures offer us a perception of History that is neither smooth nor comfortable, but a field of contradictions that invites us to reflect and debate freely. He brings the vestiges of our past to life, offering us another guided tour of history through his drawings.

‘As a historian (and this is at the heart of the project), I witness every day the senseless recycling of historical events and, worse still, the growing disinterest of citizens for the warnings of historians, as if they had less time to think. That is why I decided to use my aptitude for drawing to express the underside of certain cities that resonate with me, to highlight crucial events that are in danger of soon being forgotten or that have already been forgotten.’ (A. M.)

Cities of Lost Memory

Cities of Lost memory is an artistic and historical project that Alexandre has been working on since the COVID lockdown. It consists of a series of cities drawn in Indian ink (brush and pen).

Born in 1974 (Oxford), from British and French parents, Alexandre Mitchell was brought up in the Flanders and Brussels. He then studied abroad and travelled extensively in the course of his research in classical archaeology. Over the last twenty years, he has taught, written and spoken widely in the fields of Greek and Roman archaeology and is a member of several scholarly associations, networks, and research groups in various fields of antiquity. Drawing skills are part of the archaeologist’s toolbox, but Alexandre only started drawing ‘creatively’ during the COVID epidemic. He noticed a dire need for facts in a world hampered by too much information, wokeness, conspiracy theories and disinformation. Just like an archaeologist, his drawings bring the vestiges of the past to life in the present, offering us through his visual perspective, an alternative tour of History.

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8 series of 50 original hand-printed lithographs of my drawings are for sale and more are in production: Dante sotto la città; Brotherly Love; Miroir de sanglots; Superstition; Dreaming of Babel, Rising from the Temple’s ashes, Bring Him Home, Brothers. Each edition is limited to 50 copies, in 50 x 35 cm format, on Rives BFK 270 g paper, and produced by one of Europe’s leading lithographers, Bruno Robbe.

Please visit the webshop for more details, the price list and to get in touch.