BIO-CREATIVE PATH

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CREATIVE PATH

"You're never the doer.
Things happen
And you just become a means for those events to happen."
 

NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ

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As I retraced the course of my life, I came across the precise moment when the overwhelming need to write naturally presented itself to me as a wonderful way out!
That said, I have never, strictly speaking, kept a ‘personal diary’.
I would simply pour out, rather in a general way, my feelings and thoughts on friendship, love, death, relationships, and so on… All, of course, from the perspective of my teenage emotions.
In the end, I often let my pen run wild, with no specific intention other than – of course! – to expel from within me the words I did not speak.

It was, in fact, writing that offered me an eternal promise of escape, a sort of consolation too, but above all that trail of ink which, sometimes completely beyond the control of my mind, also presented me with flashes of insight that were perfectly fluid, crystal-clear!, even revealing ideas and thoughts hitherto unknown to me.
They took me by surprise!, and often delighted me...
They fascinated me, come what may!

Driven by the same impulse, I would also explore – though many years later – the flame of a blowtorch whilst working with Murano glass and solid silver, raw materials chosen at the time for the creation of a few pieces of jewellery.
These pieces would sometimes inspire a few texts to accompany my travels, whilst at other times it was the thoughts offered up by the act of writing itself that sparked the desire to turn them into a symbolic piece of jewellery... ​

At that time, in 2008, I left Paris to settle on a farm in the Bresse region, deep in the countryside, driven by a visceral need for space, greenery, peace and quiet.
Photography naturally began to captivate me once more, partly because I wanted to share these pieces of jewellery on my website at the time, but also because of a mad desire to capture the magnificent natural world that now surrounded me on all sides.

From then on, I would roam about – whether walking towards the pond or spending hours sitting on a welcome tree stump left there in the horses’ meadow, where my own horse also grazed…: my own inner landscapes!
Without having planned it, I’ll end up taking thousands of photos – and thus amassing enough material to work with for the rest of my life!
In truth, photography has always been a quiet companion of mine since my teenage years. I was introduced to it by a father who was passionate about film photography and who willingly lent me his camera whenever I set sail on his old sailing ship.

I thus rediscovered a freedom of time and movement, accompanied by my two young sons, then gradually by cats, a dog and even a large grey horse! I rediscovered the luxury of completely losing track of time.
Having lived mainly in the city until then, it was in the countryside that I developed a taste for listening – to the rustling of leaves on the trees caressed by the wind, to inner silence, and to the art of contemplating the flora and fauna that graciously offer themselves to us, provided we give them just a little attention...
A return to a sense of wonder!
 
A way of being that mirrored my own state of mind – I, too, ‘calm and upright’! – open to the world around me, that infinite ‘Now’ which would gradually become utterly and perfectly inseparable from my creative impulses.

By the end of 2011, the freedom of movement afforded by a digital camera in my hand, followed by the desire to express my emotions through the thousands of images thus captured, eventually began to seriously take precedence over the pleasure of glassblowing, as that craft physically required me to remain in my studio, even as the great outdoors was irrevocably winning me over.
So, it was all systems go for photography! It would thus become my new master of ceremonies.
In 2012, the images began to organise themselves into series, which you will also find on this website.

During those ‘photography’ years, I would also sometimes play around with clay or even white paint mixed with ash (whatever I happened to have to hand, really!) with no other aim than to rediscover the intuitive, direct movement of the hand, to experiment with other materials too, and to decorate my home in the process!
It’s also a question of finding a natural balance with images that now inevitably require a screen and the skill of the renowned printers at my professional laboratory (Art Photo Lab) in order to be fully realised.

From ash to natural pigments applied to canvas, it was ultimately just a small step and a change of region!

At the end of 2018, I moved to southern Burgundy, to the heart of the charming medieval town of Saint-Gengoux-Le-National. I transformed my rustic but spacious attic into a studio and, later, my ground floor into a gallery space to showcase my works.
I took the opportunity to completely revamp this website to make it more open to the various mediums I now use, even though acrylic painting has now taken on a decidedly dominant role!
 
Like so many ‘Possibilities’ within oneself, in a spirit of ‘letting things be’ (or ‘doing nothing’, for that matter!), ever freer, more joyful and more confident – essentially because it allows itself, forever, to take detours and enjoy moments of pause.

To sum up, I believe that, ultimately, it will always be simply a matter of relearning to respond “Here!” to whatever comes our way, and to trust both in what we do and in ourselves. A presence in this Joy of Being – unique and indescribable, deeply rooted within us, generating truly irresistible bursts of energy and impulses!...

An eternal and thrilling return to childhood.

Hélène - 2024

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"...So I lift from my shoulders the burden of time and, at the same time, the burden of performance that is demanded of me. My life is not something to be measured. Neither the leap of the goat nor the rising of the sun are performances.Nor is a human life a performance, but something that grows and strives for perfection.And what is perfect does not perform: what is perfect works in a state of rest.It's absurd to claim that the sea was made to carry armadas and dolphins. Of course it is - but it does so while retaining its freedom. It is equally absurd to claim that man was made for anything other than living. Sure, he supplies machines and writes books, but he could just as easily do something else.The important thing is that he does what he does in complete freedom and in full awareness that, like every other detail of creation, he is an end in himself.

It rests in itself like a stone on sand."

Stig Dagerman - Excerpt from Our need for consolation is impossible to satisfy.

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