Annette Messager

Born 1943 in Berck-sur-Mer, she lives in Malakoff.

A militant artist influenced by André Breton’s Surrealism, Annette Messager was originally part of the “individual mythologies” tendency that marked a return to autobiography and narration. Messager’s work is characterised by the use of poor materials. Since the 1980s and 90s she has been making photographic installations and scenographies in which stuffed or soft animals, photographs of body fragments and hybrid bits of fabric representing organs lie on the floor, are fixed to the wall or hang by string from the ceiling, evoking powerful associations and narratives. The objects in her installations are almost talismanic, or like relics, evoking a magic that is both protective and disturbing.

At the Musée des Augustins she is presenting La Danse du scalp (Scalp Dance), consisting of a head of air hanging from the ceiling, moved by a fan which makes this disembodied fragment perform a wild choreography. This work is sometimes called “La Folle du logis” (The Domestic Madwoman).