Victoire Inchauspé’s first solo exhibition at Galerie Jousse Entreprise is entitled Armoires vides (Empty Wardrobes). The title implicitly evokes a sequence of gestures and actions: it presupposes a wardrobe that was once full and has since been emptied of its contents. But what compels one, one morning, to empty it? What urgencies, necessities or obligations prompt such a gesture?

For Victoire Inchauspé, the emptying of a wardrobe reflects an intimate need to draw into the open what has until now remained embedded in memory, in order to observe the effects and meanings produced when these objects are brought together. Yet the exhibition moves beyond any simple act of display, unfolding more as a narrative than an inventory. In resonance with Annie Ernaux’s first novel^[1], published in 1974 and cited by the artist, the exhibition inhabits a suspended moment of introspection, an attempt to (re)assemble a fragment of personal history. By peeling back layers extending from childhood to adulthood – where fears, expectations and uncertainties have accumulated – the wardrobe becomes a mental space, one in which what has been stored away remains perpetually on the verge of overflow.

This exploration is further reinforced by the decision to present exclusively new works, some of which extend earlier lines of research and preoccupations. A number of formal and thematic characteristics central to Victoire Inchauspé’s practice resurface, notably a series of nine bas-reliefs marked by physical gestures – scratches and blows inscribed into the material – as well as flowers. These works, considered by the artist as relics, function as gestural, emotional and visual transcriptions of fleeting moments, preserved through one of the most durable materials: bronze. Memory is also addressed through a three-dimensional sculpture in raw clay, depicting a kneeling child holding the head of a sunflower. The gesture remains ambiguous: it is unclear whether the child has just picked the flower or is about to let it go.

The artist has also embarked on new avenues of research and experimentation, the implications of which are two-fold: both technical and symbolic. Notably, for the first time, she presents a film – a work which proves central to understanding the exhibition. This video portrait depicts a young deer on the threshold of sleep: while its body appears to yield to rest, something resists, remains watchful. Free yet vulnerable, unsteady yet alert, the deer embodies a tension – a state of constant vigilance that underpins Victoire Inchauspé’s exhibition. The works presented thus assert a form of strength inseparable from extreme fragility. This tension is further extended through a piano sound piece, reminiscent of early learning. Performed by the artist herself, the occasionally hesitant sound accompanies the visitor throughout the exhibition space.

Ultimately, emptying wardrobes involves the creation of disorder: extracting objects and elements from a pre-established order in order to arrive at a new, more accurate and more tolerable arrangement. In seeking to unfold what had previously seemed neatly stored away, Victoire Inchauspé embarks on a circuitous path, one unsettled by the weight of fears and traumas, yet equally sustained by the discovery of the resilience inherent in the act of creation.

^[1] Annie Ernaux, Les Armoires vides, Gallimard, 1974 / Annie Ernaux, Cleaned Out, Dalkey Archive Press, 1990

Text by Margaux Bonopera
Independent curator and head of exhibitions at the Vincent Van Gogh Foundation Arles 

Translation by Sadie Fletcher

With the support of the CNAP Centre national des arts plastiques.

Views : Max Borderie