The chiseling of the die, the alchemy of superimpositions and the effect of surprise at the end of the press pushed Joëlle towards engraving during her studies. Today, she is just as keen on personalizing proofs by adding embroidery stitches and sewing lines, which give relief and unify the work. Sewing repairs and connects, perhaps even adding magic to the real, referring us, for example, to certain Andalusian traditions that inspired the novel Le cœur cousu, or, closer to home, to the little sachets of sewn fabric that contain some beneficial mantra… These works blend the techniques of etching and Textile art, which replaces the brush with fiber.
While some of the artist’s depictions of women deserve more rigorous attention, this exhibition sees the flowering of a personal visual alphabet drawn from plant archetypes and the artist’s documentary photographic work. Symbols of love and perfection, of an Edenic state to which everyone has the right to aspire, these floral motifs express joy and serenity, whether engraved in black ink or sewn with colored thread onto a character’s garment or hair, or whether they illustrate a concept or state of mind.