A/PAR/TENIR

Today I was supposed to expose drawings but suddenly my common tools, paper and black ink were not enough. I needed once again to step out from my comfort zone and try something completely new to illustrate observations and emotions about a subject which has been growing in my guts for a while. Something very intimate that I have experienced by but also universal at the same time. There is not just one word to explain it. All depends which language we talk. In French we could talk about “appartenir”, in old french “apartenir” which sounds to my ear the same as “a part tenir”. And I have realized that the difference between them in real life can be as slim as it sounds to my ear. In English it would be “to belong” and it sounds already nicer, easier and welcoming, like to be part of something. Curiously in Sami language it would be “gullat” which literally translated in french means “ressentir”. In Finnish the word is very close to Sami word, “kuulua”, which would be translated as “s’entendre”. There is also another word, “kuulla”, “entendre, ouïr, écouter”. These finnish words make a lot of sense to me when talking about the belongingness (or the lack of it). Every human needs to be an accepted member of a group and the need to belong is a strong and inevitable feeling in human nature. If one does not belong, he or she cannot clearly identify her or himself and will not be able to communicate and relate to his or her surroundings. The feeling of belonging, being a accepted, respected, integrated or not, always has consequences in a good or bad way. The way we treat others or the way we have been treated is all imprinted into our cellular memory. I think we should take it seriously into consideration today in order to have a tomorrow. No one runs this world alone, we are depending on each other. We are the ones who can choose in what kind of world our children and future generations will be living. My intuition guided me to use heavy material for a heavy subject. It felt good to put hands in clay, to feel grounded and to have a possibility to create my own world. I have never made any ceramics before, that must be seen in results and that is the thing. An evolution which doesn’t need to be hidden. Each piece is handmade slowly with love and consciousness in my little home atelier in Vevey. All of them are fulfilled with positive energy and hope of a world with values that truly matter.

NANA 1.1.2017

Ceramic fairytale installation during Ultranoël at Atelier Dlignes

2017