VARDARISM

VARDARISM
Hommage to Agnès Varda 

VARDARISM was part of the exhibition Un deux Trois Soleil, 2023 at the centre Culturel Français in Freiburg, Germany. 

I discovered Agnès Varda during my studies. I had finally found someone who could free me from all the conventions and barriers between art, cinema, photography, installations and words. 
Varda was an early advocate of the status of women. This feminist dimension can be seen in her film work, sometimes hidden, as in Le Bonheur (1965), sometimes clearly asserted in L’Une Chante, L’Autre Pas (1977) or in her short films such as Réponses de Femmes (1975) and Notre Corps, Notre Sexe (1975).
Varda also plays with words. Whether in the voice-over that links the different structures of the documentary or in her songs written for films such as Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962) and L’Une Chante, l’Autre Pas (1977). 
When Varda died in 2019, it was as if part of the memories of my student life had disappeared. To fill the gap, I decided to pay tribute to her by making a long leporello that I called Vardarism. 


Since the kitchen has been a place of experimentation for many women artists since the 1970s, I chose to draw all the objects in my kitchen and associate them with writings and quotations from Agnès Varda’s films, extracts from her dialogues and songs, and reflections on her work based on interviews. I added recent political events that I felt were important: the war in Ukraine, the women’s demonstrations in Afghanistan, the treatment of animals in slaughterhouses.
Yellow is the only colour used in these drawings. It complements the purple that was Varda’s favourite colour. 

Each sheet is scanned and laid end to end to make a 6.80m long story. Once unfolded, it becomes a sculpture. 
Four copies were printed on Fine Art paper.