Turn Out the Lights, 2023, photograph, fabric, pastels, and thread, 20h x 147w cm
In early 2023, Michele Landel went to Joya Air, an art residency in the desert mountains of Spain. It is a place that is completely self-sufficient in a way that she had never experienced before. It was so quiet that she had to stand very still to hear anything at all – the flap of a bird wing, the wind softly blowing over dried branches. There were no cars roaring by or planes flying overhead. She discovered the soft sounds of nature, the clean color palette of the land, and the engaging beauty of the place.
Nobody #5, 2023, photograph, fabric, thread and varnish, 30h x 21w cm
Stones, 2023, photograph, fabric, thread and varnish, 105h x 80w cm
Watering the Stones at Le Salon Vert in Geneva, Switzerland (September 15-30, 2023)
Michele Landel began collecting and photographing materials she found discarded in the fields. Organic and nonorganic items, such as the broken watering can and weathered sticks, that had blown away from the farm and been dried by the sun. This land has been cultivated by hand for centuries and as a result the line between man-made and nature is blurred. In her photographs, she combined found human debris with natural debris to create an image that is poetic and engaging based on forms and shapes. These are fragments of the past and today.
After returning to her studio in Paris, she printed and quilted her photographs onto bedsheets. The bedsheet is an object that is used daily to provide warmth and protection. It is an intimate object where life can begin and end and where one goes to rest, heal, and make love. On the bedding, the forms and shapes become sensual and soulful. The material is meant to activate tactile memories; possibly of a smooth treasured pebble in a pocket or a piece of ceramic found on a walk and wiped clean with a cloth. We know the things do not have feelings or ideas, but the viewer is being asked to consider and appreciate the magical personalities of nature and these shards of being human.
The title of the series, Watering the Stones was inspired by the Mary Oliver poem of the same name.
All art will be on exhibition and available at Le Salon Vert (Geneva, Switzerland) from September 15-30. Artwork can be shiped internationally and prices are available here.
Green Shard, 2023, photograph, fabric, thread, and varnish,
34w x 47h cm
Yet it Might Mean Something, 2023, photograph, fabric, thread, and varnish, 165w x 120h cm
