Photographs printed on canvas, embroidery.
Marie De La Ville Baugé talks about the series of works in relation to the Mind the Gap theme:
On the way to North Pole, I discovered at the edge of the world, at the border of a myth that was unknown a century ago, in a nowadays closed and guarded territory, a world only accessible to the privileged ones holding a special travel permit, a place jailed between two time periods. Human life on the islands, once built out of a vivid Utopian dream vanished. Today is supposed to be a gap between times, a break before a new future. But we know now that a tomorrow is not likely to occur. The gap will be closely filled by climate change and global warming taking over by leaking by a warm tongue the shores of the islands, melting its permafrost in the sea.
In 2017, I was invited to take part in the Pax Arctica expedition in the Russian Arctic, led by Luc Hardy to explore the Delong Archipelago in the Eastern Siberian sea. Navigating on the Somov icebreaker, I relived the 1879–1881 expedition, the attempt by George W. De Long to reach the North Pole by pioneering a route from the Pacific Ocean through the Bering Strait. Before the shrinking of the boat after 2 years imprisoned on the ice pack, the expedition discovered new islands—the De Long Islands—and collected valuable meteorological and oceanographic data. Today, those islands and its wildlife are threatened to disappear by climate change in the Arctic.
Marie De La Ville Baugé
Marie writes, “I notice, that every day, the frontier between yesterday’s world, and tomorrow’s is fluctuating, moving forward and sometimes backwards. … I am interested in all urban environments, its ascetic, the imposed character of normality within its modern housing constructions and its form of alienation. But it is so common to everyone, that, sometimes, I make color appear. I pay attention to all the architectural elements including abandoned or working factories, power stations, power line towers. I also studied contemporary ruins, as would an anthropologist, seeking out answers, trying to understand neglected civilizations destroyed by Utopia’s legacy and thwarted promises.”
Hello, hello
asking questions.. this is a great always a good thing to do
That icy travel was a great experience, no?
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Thanks Maria for sharing your work. The series is really interesting, as well as the process behind it.
really enjoyed looking at this work and watching the live stream about it. Incorporating sewing and photography is an innovative approach and a interesting form of documenting one’s journey through a historical context. Love the work.