January 2024. London Art Fair panel discussion.
London Art Fair Panel discussion
19th of January
4.30 to 5.30 pm.
I am very pleased to be part of Photomonitor’s panel discussion, Land Matters. Chaired by Christiane Monarchi, the conversation will focus on photographic practices developed alongside and with the land.
January 2024. Exhibition at Bibliotheque Bibliothèque National de France
10th October 2023 - 4th of February 2024
I am very excited to be part of the exhibition Épreuves de la matière at the National Library of France together with artists Pierre Cordier, Marina Bério, Ellen Carey, Thomas Ruff, and Joan Fontcuberta, amongst others.
December 2023. Features in ABC Cultural, Photoworks, Fisheye Magazine.
My practice and future projects have recently been featured in the Spanish newspaper ABC Cultural. You can read more (in Spanish) about my upcoming work on this link.
Diane Smyth has also published an article for Photoworks focusing on my experience living in Thamesmead and featuring two projects: About The Thamesmead Chapter and The Museum of Plant Art. Read the article here.
Fisheye Magazine has recently created a video where I explain my practice and some images from The Pigment Change series (in French with English subtitles). The video summarises an hour-long conversation with Valentin Socha.
December 2023. The Pigment Change exhibition at Fisheye Gallery and related events.
The Pigment Change solo exhibition at Fisheye Gallery has now been extended to the 20th of Jan 2024. As part of the exhibition public programme Michel Poivert, Professor of History of Contemporary Art and Photography at the Sorbonne and Bastien Forato, Director of Fisheye Editions, will discuss the newly released book in a free talk at the Gallery.
November 2023. The Pigment Change book launch at Paris Photo and other events.
This November 2023 Fisheye Editions launched the book The Pigment Change. Copies can be bought on this link.
As part of the book launch, Fisheye organised a day of signatures at Paris Photo and Fisheye magazine did a portfolio feature. The book was selected for a talk with The Eyes during Paris Photo.
During Paris Photo my work was equally featured in The Eyes Magazine Fracture and in Elles x Paris Photo book by Textuel.
The book launch was equally paired with a solo show at Fisheye Gallery that will stay open until the 6th of January.
Exhibition opening times:
Wednesday to Friday: 2 p.m. — 7 p.m.
Saturday: 11:00 a.m. — 6:00 p.m.
October 2023. The Museum of Plant Art First Exhibition and publication launch.
Chapelle des cordeliers Toulouse. 14Oct- 26 Nov
This first exhibition of The Museum of Plant Art has been developed with the support of LIPME (Laboratoire des interactions plantes - microbes - environnement. INRAE/CNRS) as part of the Résidence 1+2 programme. This immersive exhibition recreates some of the elements of flower-pollinator interactions, to facilitate discussion amongst exhibition audiences of their/the pollinator experience as an artistic one. In this iteration, The Museum of Plant Art celebrates the complexity and beauty of plant colouration choices, using plant-based biodegradable iridescent materials donated by the University of Cambridge and commercial companies.
This first exhibition was paired with a first publication by Filigranes Editions and a day conference at the Museum of Contemporary Art Les Abattoirs in Toulouse.
Both the publication and the conference aimed to facilitate reflective debate and expand on the immersive exhibition experience with a series of contributions from leading philosophers, scientists, journalists, and art academics fostering debate on us, our understanding of art and our understanding of earth co-habitants.
Photos of the opening night by Maxime Duhamel.
September 2023. The Pigment Change at UNSEEN Amsterdam
August 2023. Sarabande Foundation Studio Residency.
I am very pleased to share that this August I have been offered a studio residency at The Sarabande Foundation!
Established by the late designer, Lee Alexander McQueen, the estate supports creative practitioners through a series of programmes. I am very excited to start my journey at Sarabande soon!
July 2023. University of Cambridge material donation to The Museum of Plant Art upcoming exhibition.
The University of Cambridge has made material a donation to the first exhibition of The Museum of Plant Art (October 2023). This plant-based film with nanocrystals gets cooler when the light hits its surface because of its crystals, which also give the material an iridescent look. This effect naturally happens in flowers and plants too, which have very complex systems to heat up and cool down so they can provide pollinators with the perfect ambient temperature. Pollinators can distinguish temperature variations of 0.25 degrees Celsius.
We, humans, have only learnt to produce cellulose with this coating as recently as May 2023. I am incredibly thankful to Professor Silvia Vignolini and Dr Qingchen Shen from the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry of the University of Cambridge for their support.