Orla walking on the Seashore; Orla over the Shoulder

Landau's project Somnambulin, executed in 2000, recreates the famous fairy tale of the Little Matchstick Girl by Hans Christian Andersen, the story of the little girl who froze to death on Christmas Eve while burning her matches to keep warm. A newspaper item published in 1989, declaring the find of the remains of a young girl, ignited Landau's imagination. The Matchstick project was multi-layered. The artist traveled in the UK and in Germany in a cement truck, dispensing popsicles shaped like the frozen girl. The viewer would warm the popsicle in his mouth, thus warming the figure but ultimately melting it completely. The two photographs offered in the present lot are depictions of the artist, nicknamed Orla, the Little Matchstick Girl wearing a mask, taken as part of this project.