EMILIE CHAUMET

My artistic practice is an archaeology of the senses. I seek to give form to what stirs us. What stops us in our tracks. What animates us. What sets us ablaze!

I explore the way emotions settle within us to form the invisible framework of our postures. It is in the confusion of what is unfolding or being replayed — between recent memories and distant recollections — that my work finds its place and takes shape.

I use ‘pre-established’ forms like an alphabet. Repeated, cut out and then sewn together, they form layers that arrange themselves through accumulation, compression or shifting. From these ‘matrix bodies’ emerge knotted threads, embroidery and sparkling beads. Between protection and overflow, the sculptures anchor themselves or float in space. They are the ‘oscillating vessels’ of our lived experiences.

My gestures are those of absorption and repetition. I do not repeat to reproduce, but rather to produce a becoming! How much time do we need for the gesture to digest and stabilise what wavers within us? As Gilles Deleuze pointed out, whilst repetition can bind us, it is also what sets us free. Through these simple gestures—sewing, knotting, embroidering—I explore textile rituals, historically domestic and feminine. Whether working alone or in an open, shared session, I harness the power of the collective and celebrate what connects us.

In the embrace, I bring to the surface what unsettles us. I transform our struggles into energy. Through their materiality and their form, the sculptures exude a gentleness. Silent. Powerful. I claim it! I love the idea of coming to soothe what lurks within us. Of making these vessels the common ground for our encounters, for our connections. From the oscillation, the breath. The momentum needed to make the world habitable.