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Could you please elaborate on your background and the nature of your work?

My name is Adelaide Feriot, I am a french artist, My pieces bring together anthropomorphic metal sculptures and abstract dyes on loose fabrics. By transposing landscapes and natural phenomena, wich I observe during my travels and my residencies, I weave links between abstraction and figuration, and between the living we observe around us and our own bodies. I constantly try to capture new places and transcribe them in an exhibition space, alongside observing characters. I question our links to the rest of the living beings and the impact of climate change on our bodies and emotions.

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How did you get conscience about the issue of plastic pollution?

I come from Atlantique coast and few years ago I observed little plastic pearls on the beach, I discovered that was called poetically « Larme de sirène ».I was interested by the poetry of this dramatical phenomenon and I made a first piece with this title. Few years later I started a new project with this title, which consists of weaving a thread made from ocean pla

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How do you think art can help bring consciousness on those big environmental issues?

I think artists can be messengers, and help to understand the world we live in.

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Can you enlighten us about those sculptures such as “La sirène”?

« Larmes de sirène » is a sculpture of a face crying. This sculpture is made of bronze and fabric made with SEAQUAL® YARN. It refers to plastic balls of industrial origin that are found today in the oceans and on beaches. By a figure of speech, this alarming phenomenon borrows the image of a legendary character.
The work emphasizes this ambiguity, the tears give substance to this character by extending to the ground, they are made from plastic waste collected on the beaches.

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Can you tell us about your future exhibition?

I am participating to a show called « Regenerative futures » at the Thalie Foundation in Brussels. I am showing a piece called “Ce feu qui me consume” which is a large canvas painted in the colors of a forest fire. I created this work in memory of the forest fires of my childhood in July 2022, in west coast of France, which shocked me.

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What are your dreams going forward?

For my next works I want to weave the canvases on which I paint from materials that have meaning. For example made from recycled cotton or recycled ocean plastic.
For that I want to collaborate with entreprises or artisans who are involved in research into new, more environmentally friendly materials or who recycle waste.

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In your opinion, what are the fundamental qualities of a contemporary hero?

I don’t know what it’s like to be a hero today. I think we need to think collectively, and act together.

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Any books/podcasts/movies you are recommending that would open-up our mind?

I watch documentaries and I follow a few active accounts on social networks about plastic pollution.There would be plenty of books to recommend on this subject, because fortunately many are concerned with it. I think of “Manières d’être vivant” by Baptiste Morizot or “Metamorphoses” by Emmanuele Coccia.
I also think of Bruno Latour, Timothy Morton and Vandana Shiva