About the work

Untitled (The Infernal Machine) 2023, it’s related to a series I produced for an exhibition at the Freud Museum, London, The Enigma of the Hour: 100 Years of Psychoanalytic Thought in 2019. This work is part of a series that delved into the ancient Greek myth of Oedipus and the Sphinx, using photographic material from various theatrical and film interpretations. It features images of French actress Jeanne Moreau, who portrayed the Sphinx in Jean Cocteau’s play La Machine Infernal 1954. These images, captured by photographer Jack Garofalo for Paris Match, showed Moreau preparing for her role in her dressing room at the Bouffes Parisiens Theatre in Paris.

I was drawn to this material as it perfectly exemplifies the fusion of ancient symbolism with modern context, highlighting the themes of mirroring and projection in the myth. The doubling of Moreau as both the actress and the Sphinx further emphasises these themes.

Date and country of birth

1974, GB

Career Highlights

Simon Moretti is an artist based in London. His work deals with context and display, through the use of appropriated images and objects, archives, curatorial and publishing projects.

Exhibitions include:

Eau Sauvage Mackintosh Lane, London (2022);

Crocodile Cradle, PEER London, UK (2021);

None of the Above, a project by John Armleder, Kanal-Centre Pompidou, Brussels (2020);

The Enigma of the Hour, with Goshka Macuga, Freud Museum London, UK (2019).