Déflorée Self Series

On-going series of self-portraits made with pressed flower petals. Akin to the Surrealists’ automatic writing or drawing, Hallier’s process with this series is intuitive and improvised, without any pre-conception of what the resulting composition will be. The petals like brush strokes or puzzle pieces interconnect with one another, translating the artist’s inner states while reconnecting her with her environment starting with the process of collecting the petals.

Breaking the cleavage between nature and culture, human-altered and symbolically potent, flowers in Valérie Hallier’s work speak directly of our “human nature”, its carnal and finite qualities. It eludes to femininity, both its resilience and its fragility.