Where my house lives

Lockdown made us aware of the four walls that surround us. We spent more time than ever before indoors, at home or wherever we were able to find shelter during those weeks when the whole world seemed to be confined because of the virus. Socio-economic differences undoubtedly had an impact on living conditions during the various lockdowns, but above all the situation revealed dysfunctionalities in relationships and accelerated or brought to the surface unstable or even turbulent domestic situations.

It was in this unique context that Jeanne Susplugas began collecting personal accounts of lockdown. These little stories were passed on to the writer Claire Castillon, who reinterpreted the situations in order to create powerful, imaginary narratives.

This collection is not intended as a precise analysis or a sociological study, but rather it offers a palette of experiences, some painful or frustrating, others bitter or disturbing, revealing in a powerful and profound way our reactions in the face of an unknown and unpredictable event. Extreme situations, desires, lies, acts of violence and misunderstandings brought about by confinement. Between the lines, the artist questions the role of the home as a ‘place of refuge’ and emphatically condemns the way the role of women regressed, as well as the increase in domestic violence during this enforced confinement.

Through a dozen windows, the only opening that we had onto the outside, we will enter these homes in order to listen to the intimate thoughts and the viewpoints of women and men, read by the writer herself.

During these weeks, we became one with our interiors, and our ‘houses’ became third persons in our lives, ‘There were my house lives’.

Born in Montpellier, lives in Paris, France. Jeanne Susplugas explores all forms and strategies of confinement in an approach that is both committed and hard-hitting. She continually questions the individual’s relation with themselves and with others in the face of an obsessive and dysfunctional world. With distance and precision, she explores a wide range of media – drawing, photography, installation, sculpture, sound, film, virtual reality, glass, ceramics, light thread. These languages enrich each other, forming an aesthetic that is seemingly seductive but quickly becomes disconcerting or even dark. The ramifications she develops have created a body of work that is rich in possible interpretations. Her protean, cross-disciplinary activity arouses contradictory sensations in viewers– unease and reassurance, anxiety and serenity. Her work has been extensively exhibited in France and internationally, notably at such locations and events as the KW in Berlin, the Villa Medici in Rome, the Palazzo delle Papesse in Siena, the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Le Fresnoy National Studio, the Musée d’Art Moderne in Saint Etienne, the Musée de Grenoble, the Biennales of Alexandria and Shanghai and the Nuit Blanche in Paris. Her films have been shown at such festivals as Hors-Pistes (Centre Pompidou, Paris), the Locarno International Festival, the Miami International Festival, Les Instants Vidéos in Marseille and Les Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin/Madrid.