The 19 Crac in Montbéliard (France) presents Hélène Bertin’s monographic exhibition Tohu-bohu. It follows the steps of her last exhibition, Cahin-Caha, that took place in the contemporary art center Le Creux de l’Enfer in Thiers (France) and was co-produced by AWARE: Archives of Women Artist, Research and Exhibitions. Hélène Bertin is the 2019 laureate of the AWARE Prize.

“From a lime-tree to a mug, a stick to a tool, a story to a ritual, Hélène Bertin, through the encounter and the exploration of matter and form, cheerfully shapes objects, sculptures, environments, and spaces to be used and shared. Trusting her intuition, she manages to fully articulate her art projects and the way she inhabits the world. She believes in stepping sideways from the dominant culture and looks for inspiration in ways of living that have resisted it. She gleans ideas in the practices of ceramists, farmers, seamstresses, candle-makers… joyfully intersecting these intentional ways of doing and thinking.

From her village Cucuron to the villages of La Borne and Sablons, she has become loyal to several places, whilst still using the small windy roads that guide her towards powerful lands of creation. Here and there, Hélène Bertin intersects and takes part in experiences with people inhabited by current practices that are also inspired by the past. During the conception of these projects, she stays attentive to what can emerge from these gestural and formal dialogues, these hybridisations of voices and matter.”

Extract from Sophie Auger-Grappin, Hélène Bertin, Cahin-caha, press release, Le Creux de l’enfer, Thiers, 2020.