Le commencement du monde

“The Beginning of the World” is a photographic work, showing two fragments of an ancient Roman wall in a street in Rome. The antique construction was cut in two in order to let the actual street pass through. But two fragments have been conserved, although two 19th century buildings were built around the relics. Barbara Fässler was struck by the highly ambiguous attitude to ancient monuments. On one hand they are destroyed in order to build a street, on the other hand, they are partially conserved and buildings constructed around them. The two photographs express very well, the antagonism between pragmatism dictated by the needs of daily lives and the value of historical monuments and testimony of ancient cultures; the beginnings and origins of our actual world.