Recycling and Construction
2021 to 2025
Caravan, Mini Truck, Greenhouse, and Cabin
These four small volumes are also linked to my artistic research: through their form, their process, their material. Because even if I had a hard time admitting it to myself, what I do is also who I am, because I was chosen. (The luck of choice). My approach is political, anti-establishment, activist, and pacifist. The places I occupy, what I do with my hands, is what I transmit: it’s my recipe for being here and now, peaceful, and above all, in harmony with who I am. To vibrate, in fact, simply vibrate.
And above all, to recharge my batteries.
Evolving in these small spaces means being content with the minimum: reducing the material to allow my ideas, my soul, and the space of my heart to grow.
For me, that’s what matters. Reflection, meditation, appreciation, creation.
Well, there’s a but, and because I’m full of paradoxes, I don’t have the space for a large workshop, and I dream of one day leaving all these places for my own shed, a magical place with swings, a yurt, a bus, a caravan… One volume, one function. A place for creation, for encounters.
One day. With the person who will grow old with me. Or with people. Who knows. In the sticks, far from the roads. Call for candidates.
But this website is definitely not just a portfolio, a resume, and a press review; it’s becoming a logbook. And yes, finally. May it be inspiring and rejuvenating!
I wanted to share with you these little constructions made and transformed by my own hands. Also to demonstrate that with recycling, elbow grease, and time, we can achieve a form of autonomy, and therefore strength, sufficiency, but also well-being and great satisfaction. And neither money nor TikTok or Instagram channels will give me that; on the contrary, they will rob me of my confidence and compare me to others. It’s so convenient to blind ourselves, to cloud our view: the world is going badly, the system is shitty, nature is suffocating. Trump, Palestine, Ukraine—we’ve forgotten the Tibetans, the Sudanese, the Uighurs, and the list goes on. Fuck genocides and long live awakening. Human, why so much violence and domination?
I believe in a better world, in the contagion of altruism, know-how, and resourcefulness.
Creation, poetry, and know-how can distance us from subjugation to power and money. Observing nature makes you understand everything: nothing is binary, everything is order and chaos at the same time, a succession of balance and instability, in constant movement.
This is my belief as a heteronormative white woman who grew up on a farm, in the mountains, in a peaceful country where you can have access to everything. That alone is a MAXIMUM privilege. Thank you for that.
So, from where I am, I want to barter, make, be content with the minimum, with intelligence and joy. Accessing knowledge and curiosity is also, I think, a privilege. Thank you again. Doing so with the aim of spreading hope and love. For myself and others.
Some of these projects began with my desire to leave the city, and then everything fell into place, logically. I’ll tell you about it (yes, I love telling my story because all of it took time, drops of sweat, and a desire for a better world, accessible to everyone, especially for the poor).
Already, the desire to recycle, to use waste and odds and ends rather than always buying and consuming…
The momo-mobile: In Marseille, the city life was suffocating me… Its noises, its smells, its density, its arid landscapes…
With the kilos of vegetables and gear I was transporting between the sea and the mountains, family and friends, I first needed a vehicle. What’s more, in the mountains, slopes everywhere, long distances, and no public transportation. So I wanted to invest in a used utility vehicle. To get around, transport, carpool, and also travel and wander. I no longer wanted to fly, but to discover France and its little-known corners. Since I was 20, I’ve been dreaming of a “Camtard”… Well, I didn’t have the space or money for a larger one, so I found a little partner. It was white but far too visible in the forest or by the river. So I decided to repaint it. And then I repurposed it with recycled materials: wood, an old freezer drawer, old boxes from my grandpa’s workshop, old children’s boxes, crates, a garden fence for a “slide,” and string from hay bales to make a kind of “net.” After more than 15 years without a car, a newfound independence and freedom blew through my disheveled hair. Originally, I mainly had to move paint and equipment, but with the shutdown, the momo-mobile became my rest home and private hotel with a billion stars and no Michelin star.
The caravan: leaving the city but also anchoring myself. I like being on the move, but there are times in life when you need to settle down… Whether it’s in a treatment program, growing a vegetable garden, or wanting to spend time with your grandmother: these 3 options concerned me. I grew up on my grandma’s farm, I feel good there, it’s my home, but I don’t really have the privacy to receive friends. And then I wanted to have an island of protection immersed in nature. I found an old, large caravan. I couldn’t help but repaint it… a quick camouflage exterior and a full-color interior. (I can’t live with the old-fashioned beige-brown melamine effect.)
Here I am, a seasonal nomad, between the city and the countryside, the sea and the mountains… Most often in the mountains, to spend time with my grandma and tend to my punk garden, which makes the very square and appearance-conscious people of the upper class jump up and down ^^
But I also needed a pied-à-terre in Marseille. (high standards and panoramic views)
The cabin: Marseille, my adopted city since 2007: I love it as much as I hate it. But I have a lot of reference points there, and then the sun, the sea, my friends, the precious neighbors, and the urban bustle. I like the crazy chaos of Marseille. Its mentality, its activism, its chaos, its feminism: Marseille.
It’s my pied-à-terre, my safe haven. I share a flat with some friends. But when I come back, I have the cabin. For three or four years, when I had my workshop at the convent, I collected everything I could find here and there with the aim of building this cabin (which looks a bit like a giant doghouse, I grant you)… But also with the aim of a “constructive” experiment for future creations. Because yes, everything is connected…
I found a slatted beam, purlin, frame, carved wood, fabrics, boxes, PVC pipe for guttering, a honeycomb panel, a piece of roof offcut that an acquaintance sold me, bought some lag screws, hinges, and large screws, and here I am, building this “masterpiece.” Solo, proudly and stubbornly.
We have a high-quality DPE because the entire interior of the structure is insulated with 100 percent straw from the 74:1 m3 brought back by the momo-mobile.
Comfort guaranteed. A power supply allows for charging and mood lighting. Two windows for drafts. Double bed base and mattress. Rainwater harvesting. Opens like a shopping cart. And inside, a secret space with various storage options, a bookcase, frames, and even phosphorescent lights on the ceiling.
A childhood dream. Filling a small space. A charming and exotic calm. (It’s like I’m promoting something for sale, mamamia)
Grandma’s greenhouse: My grandma is my life, she’s my blood. She’s always been there for me. Protecting me and, above all, offering me the most beautiful displays of unconditional love: presence, listening, and understanding. Delighted to see me, all the time, always. We laugh, we tinker, we garden, we cook: and all this in an eco-friendly/thrifty way because we can earn 3 francs 6 sous (a farmer’s pension: it’s meager).
The cold climate of Haute-Savoie is demanding for growing tomatoes. So, nothing beats a small greenhouse: all recycled. The windows come from Sausset, from a window depot at my neighbor’s mom’s house… and guess who put them back together? The momo-mobile! A few acacia stakes planted with a 30kg cloche with my sister, and boom, boom, zen, there’s the greenhouse…
That’s also what’s been keeping me a little busy lately.
I had to kill cancer, but I couldn’t just sit back and do nothing. So when I could, randomly, with varying degrees of energy, strength, and morale, I moved forward on these little projects… step by step… without pressure, without stress, without internet, without having to move everywhere every month. And also because I didn’t have much money…
And now? I don’t want to spoil it, but there will be other cabins, on other scales…
Before that, we had to learn some things. More in the next article. ouistiti.