Matrix of Worlds, Collège des Bernardins, Paris, France, 2024
Muriel Pénicaud offers us a very personal, artistic, and poetic vision of three worlds: earth, sky, and women.
In Muriel Pénicaud's vision, these three worlds are perfectly intertwined, creating a poetic, social, and earthly theme. From the first glance, we are transported by the meaning we can attribute to her works and commitments.
An exceptional venue for an exhibition with a message! We invite you to discover Muriel Pénicaud's collection "Matrix of Worlds," featuring 41 photographic works, starting January 23rd, in the heart of the exceptional 13th-century Nave of the Collège des Bernardins.
Collège des Bernardins - From January 23 to February 9, 2024
20 rue de Poissy - 75005 Paris - Tel: 01 53 10 74 40
Free admission from Monday to Saturday, 10 am to 6 pm
In "Matrix of Worlds," I present for the first time my perspective on the earth, the sky, and women, which form the mythological origin of the world in many civilizations.
The history of humanity is endlessly intertwined with the history of the tree. We are only a tiny part of the living world, and our existence depends on trees. They connect the earth, water, and sky. The tree has nourished us, we have venerated it, then colonized it, and finally largely destroyed it. But its telluric power persists beyond our perception of time. It is our master in resilience, patience, connection between living organisms, and memory through the centuries. By photographing it, I seek to become a little of it, to embrace it, to feel from its roots to the sky the sumptuous essence of life that connects us to all beings, through time.
The flight of the bird is an inexhaustible source of enchantment. It is our master in freedom, space, lightness, and transcendence. It too connects the sky and the earth. It embodies the divine and the echo of an ancient knowledge whose signs and path we have lost. Without birds, the entire sky would be extinguished. Like the tree, it teaches us an art of communication unsuspected by our too narrow minds. Migratory birds draw a cartography of the sky and the earth that we struggle even to imagine. Photographing the bird, for me, means welcoming the beauty of the world and taking flight for a journey that is both internal and planetary.
Woman is me, she is my daughter, she is my sister. I do not take an external view when I photograph women of all generations, cultures, and religions around the world. From within, I try to express and share our fears, our joys, our revolts, our sorrows, our desires, our fierce freedom, and above all, the inner power and vital impulse that drive us to give, protect, and celebrate life, sometimes even against all odds.
Matrices of the earth, sky, and women,
indissolubly linked to form the matrix of worlds.
'Like a fleeting and unfathomable plant abyss'.
Chantal Colleu-Dumond, Director of the Domaine and the International Garden Festival of Chaumont-sur-Loire.
Visit with Reza, Maria Cristina Madau, Florence Poivey.
