Peaux de dame, 2020

Peaux de dame (2020) is a series that Pauline Curnier Jardin began in 2018 for the Villa Santo Sospir in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. Spread out on the walls and floor, the works are ectoplasmic representations of the female body made of mock leather in skin tones. These skin-suits, whose title also recalls the folk tale Peau d’âne, are not at all combative; they are limp and lose the way a woman’s skin loosens with age. This widespread slackening of a body presents comfort in their positions; with their arms and legs spread out, stretching over all of the space they are given.

Their limpness also emphasizes their extreme plasticity in a cartoonish way. Like cartoon characters that have fallen from a cliff or have had something roll over them, all just to regain their original shape moments later, the works humorously touch on the concept of endless transformation.

Photo by Marjorie Brunet Plaza.