scintille

Sparked by her visit to a cave in West Papua and the lifeforms she encountered there, Marguerite Humeau has created a new body of work that draws upon her research into the intricate ecosystems of caves and their inhabitants. Taking the cave's darkness as a metaphor for transition, flux and uncertainty, the artist was also inspired by John Koenig's The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. The exhibition title 'scintille' derives from the Latin scintilla – meaning a spark or small flash of fire – which has also come to signify a faint trace or residual hint at the edges of perception. The show presents an immersive 'emotional landscape populated with sculptural relationships', featuring colossal guardian sculptures formed through repeated layering and cast-glass bat sculptures that explore themes of collective responsibility and interconnection. Interspersed among the sculptures are 12 works on paper rendered on supports that echo arched cave mouths, functioning as portals into other chambers. In times of uncertainty, Humeau proposes the cave as both a site of exchange and encounter, where darkness and the unknown become invitations to speculate upon alternative ways to care for each other.