LUCILE BERTRAND “They used to sing”
[ONLINE DISCOVERY]
Through testimonies, current events and literary accounts, Lucile Bertrand weaves the story of our humanity with objectivity and benevolence, conveying all its richness, hope, pain and paradoxes. For her first solo exhibition at Irène Laub gallery, the artist has developed a shared sensory experience of wandering, which invites us to penetrate straight to the heart of her preoccupations in order to better grasp the societal issues that concern us all. To get as close as possible to the universality of her subjects, she bases her practice on lived experiences, writings, media reports and in-depth articles as diverse as they are transversal. Adapting her methods to each new production, strives to offer a detailed synthesis of a specific situation so that everyone can fully grasp the subject and make it their own.
– Clémentine Davin, historian and art critic
The Invisibles (part three)
This drawing is part of the triptych “The Invisibles” forming a set about the dangers of the workers invisibility, even though they are essential to the global economy. Poor working conditions and environmental neglect often go hand in hand, but those who demand improvement in both often pay for it with their lives.
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Survival Route
This story is adapted from Camilla Panhard’s book No Women’s Land (in French), Éditions Les arènes. For 10 years, the journalist met a large number of migrant women travelling from Central America to the USA. With the author’ authorization, Lucile chose to follow Suyapa (22 years old) and gather several stories from other migrant women through her journey from Choluteca, in the south of Honduras, to Houston, Texas. Fleeing political violence as well as narcotics and gang violence, Suyapa travelled alone more than 3,000 kilometers (follow the red line from the bottom right and go up) through Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico to enter the United States to meet with her husband and son who had previously arrived in San Antonio, Texas.
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East/West – West/East (diptych)
Left drawing (East/West): follow the green line from left to right.
A Belgian-Armenian pianist goes from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Ramallah, West Bank, to give piano lessons. She also goes to visit Jerusalem (south) and Nablus (north).
Right drawing (West/East): follow the red line from right to left.
A Palestinian goes from Yatta, West Bank, to Tel Aviv, Israel, without a permit to work on a construction site for three weeks.
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Chanter comme des oiseaux
Scores were composed after listening to bird songs from all over the world recorded by amateur ornithologists.
Here we discover unknown birds, whose names form a poetic universe in themselves. Their songs are described using the memory of human or mechanical sound experiences – throat scrapings, children’s cries, complaints, but also bicycle pumps, trumpets with mute, etc. The intonations, pitches and lengths of sounds are suggested by signs drawn under each bird mentioned. Visitors can try their hand at (re)producing the songs, alone or with others, in duet or trio, or even in canon, to create a symphony or even a cacophony, as they can also be found in nature.
Each original partition and its music stand can be bought on their own. The total installation is comprised of 7 music stands (price on demand).
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Can you hear me?
Behind photos of uncertain places, short texts are hiding, themselves more or less supported or disturbed by words scattered in the space, or, on the contrary, as if embedded in the image. These texts speak of absence of beings or words, or of the power to act.
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Lorsque j’étais enfant
Behind photos of uncertain places, short texts are hiding, themselves more or less supported or disturbed by words scattered in the space, or, on the contrary, as if embedded in the image. These texts speak of absence of beings or words, or of the power to act.
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They left
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Projet pour “They used to sing”, bande-son 2
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Des routes et des mots – Émigrations croisées
Many writers have demonstrated that it is sometimes necessary to go beyond one’s boundaries (personal and geographical) in order to achieve fulfilment.
Here, the French writer Marguerite Yourcenar, and the American James Baldwin took opposite routes to live and express themselves more freely.
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Des routes et des mots – Chemins parallèles
Many writers have demonstrated that it is sometimes necessary to go beyond one’s boundaries (personal and geographical) in order to achieve fulfilment.
To the left: Born in Martinique under French colonial rule, Frantz Fanon was one of the most important writers in black Atlantic theory at a time of anti-colonial liberation struggle.
To the right: Born in Palestine, Mahmoud Darwich is internationally recognized for his poetry which focuses on his nostalgia for his lost homeland.
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Des routes et des mots – L’ailleurs de l’autre
Many writers have demonstrated that it is sometimes necessary to go beyond one’s boundaries (personal and geographical) in order to achieve fulfilment.
To the left: Constantinople-born explorer, historian, and writer, Evliya Çelebi is the most famous traveler of the Ottoman Empire.
To the right: Born in Podolia, Jan Potocki was a Polish aristocrat, scholar, and writer, but above all a great traveler, historian, archaeologist, and ethnologist.
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Bout du monde
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— Clémentine Davin, 2020