Histoires de Je (part 2)

• Yu Matsuoka,
• Anne Deguelle,
• Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos,
• Annette Messager,
• Tracey Moffatt,
• Florence Pages,
• Paula de Solminihac,

The gallery will be closed from January 21 to 29.

"Stories of I" (part 2) pursues a series of exhibitions at Galerie Dix9, where works are centered on the quest for identity.
The encounter of contemporary artists from diverse cultural and geographical contexts is one of the defining strengths of this series. In this second part, the focus is placed on women artists, bringing together both renowned and emerging figures. The exhibition highlights the diversity of their approaches to a shared exploration of identity: self-portraits, masked performances, fictional narratives, the quest for self through the other, or the search for the other within oneself. These reflections also delve into themes related to the image of the artist, the spectator, the child, and the mother.
Artists express these explorations through a wide range of mediums, including performance, video, photography, sculpture, painting, drawing, and installation. The goal is not only to present works that convey meaning but also to reveal how that meaning is constructed.

As is often the case in her work, French artist Anne Deguelle draws elements from nature, transforming them and giving them new interpretations. In this way, a long bramble adorned with fireflies traces the oval of a minimalist "Self-Portrait". In a more figurative vein, Japanese artist Yu Matsuoka paints an oil portrait of herself with her beloved dog in "Betty’s Consolation."
"Story of I" more enigmatic with Paula de Solminihac who transforms the pages of her journal into drawings/sculptures. These "Diary Pages" reflect how deeply the Chilean artist's work is intertwined with her personal life. The recurring presence of circles and the annotations reminiscent of archaeologists highlight her ongoing concerns with the metamorphosis of things.
Testifying to a lived experience, Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos’ masks in bread embody the artist's crying face. The tears blend into nipple-like shapes, attributes of femininity that are a recurring theme in the French-Greek artist's work. Through touch, Florence Pagès directs the understanding of her textile panels: those tactile works help overcome an abusive childhood by creating clearly defined safe spaces or adding pieces such as embroidery or tapestry fragments reminiscent of the comforting world of grandmothers. This tenderness is palpable in Annette Messager’s poignant epitaph "Maman," written on a photograph of her mother.
It is the mother-child relationship in all its forms that Tracey Moffatt’s video "Mother" narrates. This great Australian storyteller draws from films and television series to reconstruct a narrative that simultaneously exposes cinematic clichés.