Gisèle Bonin FRENCH, 1975
"Gisèle Bonin's drawings do not belong to her. They belong to the person who looks at them, at the very moment they are discovered"
-- Philippe Piguet, exhibition curator and art critic
Gisèle Bonin is from the Auvergne region, born in 1975. She cannot recall a time when she "did not draw," even though she came from a background largely unfamiliar with this form of expression, or with the arts in general. She first studied music at the Clermont-Ferrand conservatory, then literature. Having earned diplomas in classical guitar and comparative literature, she entered the Angers School of Fine Arts, from which she graduated in 2005. In 2014, she began volunteering as a French teacher with France Terre d'Asile, and went on to deepen her commitment by actively supporting organizations that assist asylum seekers and by offering drawing classes to people in exile.
She has always immersed herself, losing herself, in the contemplative and existential sense of the term, in the conception and creation of long, painstakingly detailed drawings, always tied to the human figure. For family reasons, she was confronted from earliest childhood with the painful consequences of the accident of our birth: that which we choose neither the moment nor the place of, but which determines not only our relationship to the world, but above all, the world's relationship to us. That which we do not choose, and yet must carry. The drawing of the body fragment gradually becomes an instinctive way of expressing this fault line, then cracks in general—those that cannot be put into words, or that cannot be heard—and then injustices so profound they can no longer be expressed at all. Drawing becomes, for her, a tactile, almost sculptural way of approaching the unspeakable nature of the journey: her own as much as—if not more than—that of each and every one of us.
Gisèle Bonin has exhibited in numerous institutional and private venues, both in France and abroad. She has regularly collaborated with writers (such as Michel Butor, Marie Chartres, Denis Lachaud, and Eric Pessan), exploring how visual and verbal languages can communicate beyond mere illustration. She has undertaken artist residencies in South Africa and Belgium, and her work is held in numerous private and public collections (museums, art libraries, and art centers).
Exhibitions
- Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Angers – EntreOuvert (2013)
- Musée Jules Desbois – Lombes (2014)
Collections
- Musées/artothèque d'Angers
- Contemporary Art Collection, City of Gentilly
- Lion Sands, South Africa (2024)
- La Cambre, Brussels (2025)
