Ivy, thorny oleaster, hackberry, strawberry tree, shiny privet, plane tree, 250x150x80cm, 2021.

Wild basketry made with plants found within the grounds of the Montperrin psychiatric hospital, during the residency at 3bisF, Aix-en-Provence, France.

Throughout my six-month research residency at 3bisF in Aix-en-Provence, I dedicated myself to this basketry. This artisanal and ancestral craft holds a magnetic power. Seeing me work in the garden drew the attention of hospital patients, sparking curiosity and exchange. Everyone wanted to help me gather, strip, and peel. The manual practice of weaving plants becomes a source of connection, revealing its therapeutic virtues.

On this scale, basketry encompasses a whole range of sensations. One becomes intimately acquainted with the plant, its growth, its life, its unique temporality. Its flexibility, its strength, its capabilities are intuited. This induces a meditative state. 

 

Guided by the hands, the mind wanders, drifting away from daily thoughts, connecting areas of consciousness usually distant.

 

Each gesture and this particular state of consciousness are inscribed in the hypnotic movement of this enveloping architecture. It possesses an autonomous existence as a sculpture. It will also come to life as a scenography element for TransitionFOOD dinners or as a place to doze off with a book within it. Other architectural elements in basketry will accompany it, giving rise to workshop performances and the passing on of this intuitive technique.