Solo show

Gäelle Choisne (1985, FR) lives and works in Paris. Sensitive to contemporary issues, Gaëlle Choisne’s practice considers the complexity of the world, its political and cultural disorder, whether it be the over-exploitation of nature, its resources, or the vestiges of colonial history, where Creole esoteric traditions, myths and popular cultures mingle. Her projects are conceived as ecosystems of sharing and collaboration, pockets of «resistance» where new possibilities are created, notably with the «Temple of Love» project. Initiated from Roland Barthes’ original essay on love, «Fragments d’un discours amoureux» (1977), Gaëlle Choisne adds a political dimension to the concept of love by paying homage to invisible bodies, minority and fragile souls, and dispossessed hearts. «Temple of love » is an evolutionary project defining itself through its modes of appearance and genesis according to its invitations and its location. The works/installations of Gaëlle Choisne have been exhibited in many institutions: (Vitry-sur-Seine), Centrale Powerhouse (Montreal), CAFA Museum (Beijing), Pera Museum (Istanbul), MAM - Musée d’art moderne de Paris, Musée Fabre (Montpellier), Zacheta Gallery (Warsaw), The Mistake Room (Los Angeles), Bétonsalon (Paris), Gr_und project space (Berlin), MAMO - Centre d’art de la Cité radieuse de Marseille, La Villette x Pompidou (Paris), Centre d’art contemporain La Halle des bouchers (Vienne), Musée archéologique Henri-Prade (Lattes), Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon etc. She has also participated in several biennials and triennials: 15th Gwandju Biennial (2024), 3rd Toronto Biennial of Art (2024), 5th New Museum Triennial (2021), 11th International Biennial of Contemporary Art (GIBCA), 13th International Biennial of Lyon (2015), 12th Havana Biennial (2015), Sharjah Biennial 13 (2017) and 14th Curitiba Biennial (2017). She has been part of many residency programs in France and internationally such as “Meeting Points collaboration” with CCA -Campus Caraïbéen des Arts (Martinique), Bethanian-KW (Berlin), the Rijksakademie (Amsterdam), Atelier Van Lieshout (Rotterdam), the Cité Internationale des Arts de Paris and OPTICA & Art3 Valence (Montreal). In 2024, Gaëlle Choisne won the Marcel Duchamp Prize and, in 2021, the AWARE Prize. In 2019, she is nominated for the Ricard Foundation Prize and the Sam Art Project. Gaëlle Choisne is represented by the gallery Air de Paris, Romainville (FR).

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Aquarium Biennial Fair Fruits Installation Love Performance Plants Sculpture Shells Stèles Temple of Love Videos Workshop

The Last Place They Thought of, Kunsthal Mechelen - Gaëlle Choisne

The Last Place They Thought of, Kunsthal Mechelen, 2024

De Garage
Organised by Kunsthal Mechelen
Curator Sorana Munsya

The artists:
• Lungiswa Gqunta
• Soñ Gweha
• Gaëlle Choisne
• Godelive Kasangati
• Lou Cocody-Valentino
• Michèle Magema
• Monica de Miranda
• Zohra Opoku
• M I M I
• melissandre varin
• Ophélie Mac Coco

Gaëlle Choisne featured artwork :
Video projected on a recycled metal plate with magnets (96 x 72 cm)
Creole Garden in Normandie, 2024, 16/9 film, digital and super 8 digitised, colour, sound, 29'00"

Crédit photographies : Lavinia Wouters
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Kunsthal Mechelen presents the exhibition “The Last Place They Thought Of”, curated by Sorana Munsya.

The title is borrowed from the Afro-Canadian intellectual Katherine McKittrick, whose research explores the links between geography, race and marginalisation, particularly for black women.

This exhibition invites us to reflect on the possibility of a black conceptualisation of geography, in contrast to traditional notions of space. Traditional geography renders space transparent, taking into account only its rationality and Cartesian identity. By emphasising the visible and the measurable, this vision leaves to the margins the idea of a certain opacity of spaces and their narratives.

Drawing on the thinking and creations of these artists, “The Last Place They Thought Of”seeks to explore and rethink notions of territory and space from a black female perspective. It highlights stories of black female resistance and acts of reparation, while also reflecting on how the living experience of hostile spaces can produce practices of care and imagination. By taking social, cultural, political and imaginative dimensions seriously, the black female perspective can no longer be ignored when reading our spaces and understanding what’s at stake in our territories.

Among the artworks, Lungiswa Gqunta’s Tending to the Harvest of Dreams installation uses barbed wire wrapped in colourful textiles to explore the impact of Apartheid in South Africa, where even in its softened form, violence persists beneath a gentle and bittersweet surface. Similarly, Soñ Gweha’s Des Safous pour les Bayam-Sellam installation uses ceramic safou replicas and a soundscape combining revolutionary Mozambican songs with the artist’s conversations with market women to symbolise the interconnectedness and ongoing anti-colonial struggle between Africa and its diaspora.

This multidisciplinary exhibition, featuring video, photography, installation, sculpture, drawing, and painting, brings together 11 Belgium-based and international artists, including both existing works and new productions.

Additionally, the collective Black Archive has been invited by the curator to contribute with a film program that either responds to or provides an additional perspective on the exhibition’s themes. The program will be held at Filmhuis (Mechelen’s cultural center) and will launch on December 14, along with a series of talks featuring three of the exhibition’s artists: Gaëlle Choisne, Michèle Magema, and Soñ Gweha.

Sorana Munsya