Upcoming:
The Metamorphoses of Ovid and Apuleius, with the Métamorphoses Association, Bretteville-sur-Odon, 2027.
Abysses, group exhibition with the Dire Autrement collective, La Bouée, Cherbourg, 2027.
Traversée(s)
Traversée(s) is a collaborative residency between Hatchery — an organisation bringing together artists from England, Canada, and France — and Labo des Arts, an artist-run association and studio space based in Caen.
The artists were hosted at Labo des Arts for a month-long residency in June 2023, working collectively and exploring the notion of Traversée(s) — Crossing.
The artists then took part in a collective, performative, and evolving exhibition at the Saint-Nicolas Church in Caen, from July 7 to July 29, 2023.
A first residency, bringing together English, Canadian, and French artists, took place in Nottingham in April 2023.
A third residency took place in Nottingham (UK) in November 2023.
Nottingham has a historical connection to machine-made lace, inspired by traditional bobbin lace. For this residency, which focused on ecology and minimalist art, I chose to develop a performative practice centred on arm knitting, evoking fishing nets, while working with knitted lace patterns.
Like Penelope (see the page dedicated to my work around Penelope), I made and unmade my pieces.
My approach to Traversée(s) was multifaceted.
During the June residency at Labo des Arts, I created a double red boat (600 × 100 cm), painted in acrylic on canvas. The fluidity of the unstretched canvas allowed me to arrange it in a variety of configurations.
Visitors were invited to take their place in whichever boat they chose, according to their own sense of adventure. Together with the other artists, the aim was to encourage visitors to relearn how to touch artworks and play with them.
The second aspect of the exhibition was to paint, in situ, the bodies of two women onto a canvas matching the first boats (600 × 100 cm, acrylic on canvas) during the month of July. The same double boat, but now carrying female bodies.
These women can be seen as both Ophelia from Shakespeare’s Hamlet and as migrants or solitary travellers. Are they alive or asleep? Where are they going? Are they fleeing?
They resonate with the bodies of the visitors who made these boats their own, for the duration of a journey through the exhibition.
From July 7 to July 29, 2023, we had the joy of returning almost every day to the magnificent Saint-Nicolas Church in Caen.
We were there throughout the exhibition, offering tea, coffee, and small cakes to visitors and passers-by, meeting people, and exchanging ideas about our work.
We confronted fatigue, the joy of being together and creating together, and the differences in our languages and ways of thinking…
Visual arts, dance, writing, and music resonated throughout the space during one — or several — Traversée(s).
