Paysages (Fragments)
Subjective model of fort Saint-Nicolas
Paysages (Fragments) is a subjective model of the fort Saint-Nicolas. It was created with the employees of Acta Vista and Bao Formation using hand-modeled black and white sandstone, mineral and plant materials collected on-site and from its soil, transformed into enamel, patterns borrowed from the fort, workers, and their stories, as well as cut stones, bricks, and other construction materials.
© DR La Citadelle de Marseille
The search for enamel here involves four inputs:
- Materials used for the restoration of the fort as part of insertion projects
- Materials collected from the old prisons of the fort
- Materials collected from the brick reserve dating from different periods of industrial production
- Lastly, materials collected jointly, including vegetation and soil samples, with the LPED, Population Environment Development Laboratory, at Aix-Marseille University as part of their research on soil pollution.
Louise Nicollon des Abbayes is an artist and researcher.
In response to questions related to social, political, and ecological sciences, she applies the artisanal and sculptural response of ceramics.
At the core of ceramics lies an intimate relationship with the mineral and plant materials that make up the landscape in which the artist lives and works. These materials are sought, collected, prepared, and form the raw material for creative work. The transformation involves a fusion of mineral materials akin to the making of glass: brought to high temperatures (here at 1280 degrees) in a ceramic kiln.
Through this alchemical transformation, the specificities of each site are revealed: color, texture, crystallization.
