art et la matière: art and matter
Artist Caroline Secq, France, is participating in a collaborative exhibition, along with five other artists. This traveling show will tour six small churches in France, which opened on May 31 and runs until June 16. Each artist is working in a variety of mediums and selects one location to install their work. Caroline continues to explore the medium of plastic, which she has been developing for several years, bringing awareness to the havoc plastics are imposing on our environment; The other contemporary artists are painters, sculptors or working with natural fibers. There is no joint topic. Caroline’s theme is, “pray for us, poor sinner.”
HAF: Hello, Caroline. Can you share with me information on your work along with the other artists, which opened on May 31?
Caroline: Hi, Ron. This is an exhibition happening in 6 different old churches in the French countryside around Valence. There are six artists, each one of us has been selected for an installation project; the show runs for 15 days.
HAF: What is the theme, and how many works are you showing?
Caroline: We choose our topic. Mine is a sentence of the Catholic prayer to Marie, “Pray for us poor sinner” in French, sinner and fisherman are the same word! “Priez pour nous pauvres pêcheurs.” I am showing eight pieces.
HAF: Are all of the artists working in plastics?
Caroline: In this exhibition, I am the only one working with plastic, sculpture, trash, etc. The other artists are painters, or artist working with natural fibers. There is no collective topic. Each one does what he wants in the chosen location.
HAF: Why is this project installed in churches? Is there a significance for this location?
Caroline: The installation happens in a church that is still consecrate (sanctified). The overall intention of the association, “Art et la matière” is to invite people to visit and rediscover the historical buildings of our heritage in France. So that’s the 11th year they open 6 locations in their countryside that are either small churches, chapels or these kinds of locations. They select artists, and organize an overall visit and ask the artists to choose one location and to propose a project for that location. My topic is meaningful in the religious context. All the apostles were fishermen; the sign of recognition for the first Christians was a drawing of a fish that became their “logo.”
