Marguerite Humeau is a French artist living in London, whose work focuses on the links that can be formed between worlds. Her work has been featured among many celebrated collections such as the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Serpentine Gallery and the MoMA. This, her first solo exhibition in the UK, opened at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, and moved to Nottingham Contemporary in mid-October of this year.
Her work weaves fiction and research to create collaborative and investigatory exhibitions that encourage their audience to both learn about and interpret what they are seeing.
This exhibition comments on the origins of life, and the gradual emergence of sentient life. It is named after the gene that mutated, thus enabling the onset of coherent language for humanity.
Humeau consulted several linguists to help re-enact the instant the mutation occurred. She then spoke to zoologists, biologists, psychologists and paleontologists, asking them to picture what it would have been like if elephants had become sentient beings able to use language, in place of humans.
“FOXP2 is a very sensory installation as sound is crucial”
Her work is displayed in an open, white space which is filled with white polystyrene sculptures that resembles elephants, and all are representative of different aspects of life. Some of these involve one elephant foetus in the process of being born, a self-destructive drunkard and one who cries out of sadness.
FOXP2 is a very sensory installation as sound is crucial; the high ceilings of the room mean that the cries and gurgles of the sculptures echo in a chilling way.
Dominating the window at the far end of the room is the matriarch elephant, whose figure looks contorted in death, and whose cries and wails are chilling as soon as you enter the room. This representation of pain and suffering is hard to ignore as you consider the other installations, and I felt that it was this horror that shaped my overwhelming impression as I left.
“the impression of beauty changes and is replaced with something almost gory”
The pink dye that colours the carpeted plinths on which the polystyrene sculptures sit is not as innocent as it appears – the pigments were created from a chemical component found in the human body.
Suddenly, the impression of beauty changes and is replaced with something almost gory. Does this encourage the exploration of evolving species and the patterns of life cycles? Or, does it just make you feel like you don’t want to sit down in case you stain your jeans?
What I found most thought-provoking and agreeable was the dark passage that leads you into the brightly lit room. As you walk along and turn a corner in the dark you are led by your ears. You are drawn into the exhibition by gasps, laughter and rhythmic, almost musical, clicking noises – a way of inviting you to think of ways that people communicate without articulate speech and therefore preparing you for the comments made by the exhibition.
“I feel the exhibition itself was somewhat unsettling”
The concept of these installations was fascinating, however I feel the exhibition itself was somewhat unsettling, perhaps owing to my lack of engagement with the pieces as individuals. I felt I came away with an impression of Humeau’s work based only on one piece. I would jump at the opportunity to see more of her work and will try to be more open-minded next time.
Nottingham Contemporary is a fantastic space to explore new and challenging art, and I would encourage anyone to put this exhibition on their must-see list.
Ginny Moore
Image credit: Ginny Moore
Marguerite Humeau’s exhibition will be running at the Nottingham Contemporary until 15th January 2017. For more information, see here.
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