Tentures naturelles, matériaux de récupération, procédés ancestraux, gestes lents suivant le rythmes des saisons. Le vivant est au coeur de la démarche de Margaux Fontaine, en tant que sujet de recherche, mais aussi comme support, moyen et, plus largement, allié. Sa pratique est intrinsèquement associée à sa vie et au fait de prendre racine dans le monde pour en faire partie depuis l’intérieur. Planter, cueillir, glaner, observer, les gestes de l’artiste se superposent à ceux de la jardinière, de la cueilleuse, de l’herboriste, de la botaniste.
Nourri de lectures et iconographies anciennes (les ouvrages médicaux d’époque antique ou les herbiers médiévaux), mais aussi de lectures plus récentes (Silvia Federici, Starhawk), le travail de Margaux Fontaine questionne la place de l’humain, et plus précisément de la femme, dans un monde aujourd’hui disparu (ou largement marginalisé) où l’humain est au sein d’une nature animée et pas en opposition - ou pire, en position de domination.
Dans ses peintures, installations, dessins, le motif végétal s’entrelace à des symboles variés (runes, constellations, visages, masques, figures animales, emblèmes hindous…), formant un ensemble de signes à lire à travers superpositions et correspondances, dans une polysémie assumée.
Au de là de l’élégance des motifs, de la légèreté des supports textiles, de la minutie du travail de broderie et de la richesse des détails et des matières, le sens du travail de Margaux Fontaine se distille en un message d’émancipation, de résistance et finalement d’insubordination.

Artists, writers, philosophers, authors

Robin Wall Kimmerer, Françoise d’Eaubonne, Silvia Federici, Starhawk, Francis Hallé, Élisée Reclus, Émilie Hache, Claudie et Francis Hunzinger, Jeanne Burgart-Goutal, Geneviève Pruvost, Marinette Cueco, Dioscoride, Kiki Smith…

Materials and techniques

Plant based dye, plant print, cold process soap making, naturalise drawing, embroidery, sewing, old lien and Fabrice, dried and fresh flowers, plant based pigments, dye fixative, clays, vegetable oil, wax, tinctorial plants, cellulose fiber, cotton, flax, plants, second hand haberdashery, hand crafted paper, drawing, painting, installation, ancient domestics crafts.

Tools

Pots, cauldrons, pruning knife, wood spoons, winegrower scissors, tailor scissors, dryer, needles for sewing and embroidery, sewing machine, embroidery hoop, paintbrush, plant and mineral watercolors, plant and minéral wax crayons, hands, fire, water, air, flowers and leaves

Gestures

Planting, picking, harvesting, sewing, applying, dying, drying, cooking, rinsing, overlying, composing, assembling, gathering, gleaning, repeating, reading, writing, learning, trying, observing, painting, drawing, embroyding, etching.

Keywords

Ecology, féminisme, ecofeminism, resilience, resistance, subsistance, community, sorority, nature, environnement, ritual, knowledge, care, interdependance, interconnection, ancestral, medicine, astrology, saisons, living, plant, holy, spirituality, wild, intuition, slowness

Quotes

I throw myself on the ground, pounding my fists and grieving the assault
on my medicine woods. I don’t know how to defeat the monster. I have no
arsenal of weapons, no legions of fighters like those who followed Nanabozho
into battle. I am not a warrior. I was raised by Strawberries, who even now
are budding at my feet. Amid the Violets. And Yarrow. And Asters and
Goldenrod that are just emerging, and the blades of Sweetgrass shining in
the sun. In that moment, I know that I am not alone. I lie in the meadow
surrounded by the legions who do stand with me. I may not know what to
do, but they do, giving of their medicine gifts as they always do, to sustain the
world. We are not powerless against the Windigo, they say. Remember
that we already have everything we need. And so—­ we conspire.
Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding sweetgrass - Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teaching of plants
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If I can’t dance I don’t want to be in your revolution. Emma Goldman
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Neither Women nor Land are Territories to Conquer!
Mujeres Creando
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We are the flow, we are the tide.
We are the weavers, we are the web.
Shekinah Mountainwater
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Come on, let’s share our colours. The evening won’t be any more dazzling, but it’s not the grand spectacle we’re looking for. Simply by creating a slightly deeper silence, certain cries can multiply until their fortress of misfortune bursts forth. And when we have given our all, we too will be ready to listen.
Pierre Lieutaghi