French Artist Alix Marie Explores Body Experiences Through Photographic Sculptures.
Words:Leen Abu Aisheh
London based French artist Alix Marie works interconnectedly between the two creative fields of photography and sculpture; producing her exceptional three-dimensional installations and objects which hint to a single specific notion: TOUCH.
Marie studied in Central Saint Martins and later, the Royal College of Art obtaining a degree in fine art and another in photography. After practicing photography, she had recognized a correlation between the shell of the human skin and that of a photograph, finding both friable and occupied with riddles. Her idea revolves around observing and digging deep to find out what a photograph hides and what the human skin does similarly. By exploring her relationship to photography she tends to study and explore her relationship with individual’s bodies whilst focusing on the idea of femininity.
Marie treats her images as real-life objects or sculptures, where cutting a part of the photograph becomes equivalent to cutting a portion of the body itself. In a very frank approach, her artworks compel us to focus on the idea of what is natural and ordinary; making us come to relations with our own bodies. A stretch mark for instance becomes a beauty sign that a person should work on revealing rather than concealing. This is why Marie’s work appears surreal in its manner of magnifying the skin in unpredictable ways; focusing on bruises, marks, cracks and spots in different shades of pink and purple and rejoicing in their beauty.
One of her projects, entitled La Femme Fountaine, explores the concept of fluidity and its connection to the female, most likely alluding to tears. Combining antiquity and contemporary matters, the installation works on referencing the renowned legend of Niobe (the woman transmuted into a crying stone). In her installation, she has even concrete casted some of her own body parts to emphasize the idea.
Marie’s work is extremely erotic, as she aims to create a connection with her viewers. She uses her own eyes and hands to develop both sculptures and photographs, which mimic the idea of touch. Choosing her materials wisely, she encourages the spectator to celebrate the natural.
Follow Alix Marie on Instagram @afnmarie
Words: Leen Abu Aisheh
