What follows describes the process that underpins my art practice and the way it relates to my research in the humanities.
I am embedded in the Anthropocene. I consume content about ecology, a potential post-anthropocene, language, environmental philosophy, spirituality. I read, and sometimes, I meditate. I am a researcher, a teacher, and I make art. I am French and I live in Paris. This is my breeding ground.
What I believe to be my subconscious releases images and sensations up to my consciousness. They are indexes of the paradoxes, difficulties and unresolved questions encountered in (1). But these I do not know yet.
I translate those images and sensations through a painting. Watercolor, color pencils, and digital paint are used to create an ethereal atmosphere, where humans’ footprint is erased, smoothed off. Acrylic is also mobilized in places, to increase saturation and plasticity on specific focal points.
The painting is complete. I now observe it, feel into it, and write about what it most obviously conveys to me. This step should allow me to identify some of the paradoxes, difficulties, and unresolved questions encountered in (1). They are indexed by this particular piece, working as a tarot card: encapsulated by visual shapes, framed, they become accessible.
Finally, I try to use these freshly unveiled paradoxes and questions as inspiration for my research. From words to sensations and images, and back to words. From science to art, and back to science. Art-fueled science. Heartfelt science.
