Vegetal Oneirism
My artworks are mainly inspired by my encounters with plants. For as long as I can remember, plants have always drawn my attention, whether in waking moments or in dreams.
Each drawing is a meticulous weaving of details, movements, lines of life, femininities, journeys, and encounters. They are creations meant to be discovered gradually, as one delves into their natural complexity.
I love revealing the precision of details in black and white, the minimalism within complexity. Starting from a blank page and black ink, I unveil what I see, what I perceive, what I feel from the world around me.
A touch of gold often enhances the dreamlike quality and magic of my drawings. I love playing with the light of metallic paints, which bring life to many of my creations. My works then change throughout the day depending on the light, always the same, yet always shifting, as simply as a forest, the sky, the sea, the moon…
My human figures bring their faceless femininity into the heart of some of my creations. I choose not to personify them or give them features, perhaps then they would become too human… sulking, smiling, mischievous. Instead, I prefer to leave the state of being open, so that each viewer can see, perceive, and feel what they wish, what they need. Sometimes, when we know too much, things lose their magic.
Biography
From the beautiful forests of France to the magical tropical forests, I eventually fell under the mysterious charm of the baobabs of Madagascar. A graduate of the École Pratique des Hautes Études, I carried out research on the use of plants by the Mikea people of Madagascar.
At the origin of all my projects lies, above all, my passion for plants and the vegetal world. I discovered botany a long time ago. At first, I collected flowers for their shapes and colors to create frames of dried flowers, and soon after I began making my first herbaria to remember the names of each of them. Working outdoors, in direct contact with nature, has always been a natural choice for me. By listening to my passions, I naturally followed my studies.
During my first trip in 2007, as part of an internship at the Herbarium of French Guiana, I discovered the tropical rainforest of French Guiana. Various missions at the Nouragues Scientific Station and many encounters allowed me to broaden my knowledge in different fields related to the flora and fauna of this region.
In 2009, I left France to explore Madagascar, a large island in the Indian Ocean that had always sparked my curiosity. For nearly a year, I worked with the Malagasy association Mad’arbres, a group of professional tree climbers. Through this work, I was trained in tree climbing and had the chance to experience the island’s incredibly rich biodiversity. From Mayotte to Réunion and through the Comoros, I fell under the spell of the Indian Ocean.
In 2012, I took part in a tropical ecology training program in La Lopé National Park in Gabon. It was an opportunity to deepen my connection with Africa, which had only been brief during a short trip to Togo. Africa, with its vast landscapes, great wildlife, savannas, and forests, has always made me dream.
These different experiences confirmed and deeply rooted my passion for tropical biodiversity.
Today, ethnobotany is an obvious path for me. I remain convinced that many aspects of the relationship between people and plants are poorly or not documented at all, and deserve to be, both for scientific knowledge and as a duty to safeguard the culture of societies under threat. While living in Madagascar, I became interested in the Mikea people. The Mikea are a small group of hunter-gatherers from the southwest of Madagascar who live in a spiny dry forest. Their remarkable ability lies in surviving without any access to water: they consume the watery tuber of a yam, Dioscorea bemandry, which serves as a substitute for drinking water.
Through three years of research on this subject, I graduated from the École Pratique des Hautes Études. My thesis, available upon request, is entitled: Wild Plants and Their Uses among the Mikea in Madagascar. The Impact of Deforestation on the Evolution of Their Way of Life.
In 2014, I settled in Fiji on a small paradise island, where I divided my time between my various passions: botany, discovering new cultures, drawing, and photography.
In 2016, Zampela was born. I decided, inevitably, that drawing had to be part of my life just as much as botany. I no longer wanted to choose between one or the other. Drawing is not just a Sunday pastime, it is a passion that I have practiced for as long as I have studied and observed plants. For me, the connection between these two disciplines is obvious; they are inseparable in my personal life, and I no longer wish to separate them in my professional life.
In 2018, I returned to the Indian Ocean, which I love so deeply. Madagascar never let me go, it calls me back regularly. As I considered leaving Fiji, moving closer to the Great Island was one of my priorities. That is when I discovered Mauritius, the Rainbow Island… where inspiration is everywhere!
In 2021, I had the great joy of returning to Mayotte, the world’s second hotspot of baobabs! It was also the year I formally trained in botanical illustration with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.