Online Artist Talk with Sara Favriau. More info and registration here.

Sara Favriau (1983) lives and works in Paris. Questioning both the work of art and its ecosystem, she investigates natural forms, symbols, and processes in order to transpose them. In her sculpture, video and performative work, she creates a conceptual vocabulary that is both a dramaturgy of materials and poetic enactment of place. Bacille ou la Résurrection (2020) is made of wood collected from the ground in the forst of Fontainebleau, where recent drought has caused many trees to fall and die. This sculpture is a reminder of the urgency of our climate conditions, the disruption of our global hydrologic cycles, and the resulting droughts and floods that our planet is enduring. The title Bacille ou la Résurrection references the scientific name of a rod shaped bacterium, which is represented through the assembled branches and in the hand-carved shapes in the wood, reminiscent of the pili on the exterior of bacteria. The weathered wood conveys a hope for a renewal of life in the face of global warming and environmental devastation- that this world of carbon capitalism must perish for another to come into view.

The video Une pelouse perçante plus forte qu’un rocher (A lawn more intergral and strong than a rock) (2021) documents Favriau's poetic action of crafting a canoe and a wooden pavilion from fallen timber and then setting them to sail. The two channel piece pieces together different moments from this performance, including setting the pavillion aflame and following its course down the Garonne river in Bordeaux until it collapses. Through these processes of renewal and the questions they raise, Favriau creates a work filled with a humour and joy for the future.