The Déflorée: A History series is made of large wood cradled panels covered with painted drawings and flower petals. Flower petals became ideal messenger in Valérie Hallier’s practice to convey themes such as femininity, resilience, sexuality, vibrancy, and decay. The series recounts the different stages of the artist’s sexual life – some ecstatic, some traumatic – and mixes abstraction and symbolic/automatic drawings to recreate personal narratives around crucial moments where letting go of control was at stake.