Emmanuelle Briat, vegetal visual artist, land artist, sculptor
Emmanuelle Briat was born in 1973 in Landerneau, Brittany, France. Her childhood in the African country of Liberia will determine and fuel her discovery of nature. Living in a house on the beach, attending school only during the morning, she’ll spend her afternoons playing by the seaside, memories that will stay engraved in her heart forever.
Her return to France was a delicate subject after her liberating upbringing, but her new nature, though different than the tropical exuberance that she was used to, will be another source of many pleasures.
At age 20, she rediscovers traveling and decides to train herself in floral decoration by accumulating experience from around the world (Europe, Africa, Antilles). When the year 2000 arrives, she’s back in Africa tending to an exotic floral plantation in Cameroon, and Princess Douala Bel, the proprietor of a gallery of contemporary art in Douala “Espace Doual’art” asks her to create an exhibition. “Fleurs de l’eau, Fleurs de l’air, Fleur de l’espace” will be a revelation for her; considering the price of floral decoration, reserved for an elite clientele which most Cameroonians cannot afford, she dedicates herself to showing the many ways to use plants, arrangements aside. Flora and the   Cameroonian forests are a constant source of inspiration for her. The artist did not try to create nature, but rather she composed her work alongside it: lush equatorial vegetation, plant sculptures, projections, and wind are her ingredients.
Back in Paris (2001-2002), Briat pursues her experimentation while working with decorator Véronique Fontaine. After experiences in London and later Antilles, she finds herself on the island of Saint-Martin where she rediscovers tropical flora in another hemisphere. Back again in Paris in 2006, Briat understands that her artistic approach reveals “Land Art,” a type of contemporary art that is associated with natural, vegetal elements.
Briat then decided to create an annual group exhibition in a family manor of the 16th century, the Kergoat Manor “Land Art au Kergoat.” It’s about liberal self-expression with an emphasis on having citizens participate in a unique artistic experience, linked to a natural park categorized among the “remarkable gardens” of Finistère. The event also helps to disseminate and publicize Land Art in Brittany. As a result, the event is an opportunity for community, civic, and transgenerational participation. The dynamism that the event creates continues on with many performances, installations, exhibitions, and Land Art event workshops.

Démarche artistique

Plasticienne et land artiste, je développe une pratique artistique fondée sur l’utilisation de matériaux naturels. En travaillant avec le vivant, je fais surgir des formes organiques qui prennent appui sur l’architecture végétale et minérale. Je tisse, compose, entrelace et mets en forme les éléments que je recueille dans la nature pour faire percevoir leurs particularités, textures et facultés de développement. Je me laisse guider par l’observation de la nature pour composer des œuvres poétiques pérennes et éphémères.
Elles s’inscrivent dans l’espace et prennent place dans les paysages urbains et naturels. Je crée également des scénographies végétales en travaillant avec des vidéos et des sons. En créant avec le végétal, je cherche à restaurer le lien de l’homme avec la nature. Mes sculptures végétales se fondent dans les espaces, s’intègrent parfois à des arbres pour inviter le promeneur à s’arrêter et porter son regard sur l’environnement. Je mène également des ateliers de pratique artistique pour des enfants et des adultes, l’objectif étant de sensibiliser à l’art et l’écologie. 

Artistic approach : English version

Observing nature is constantly a driving force of Briat’s artistic approach, who calls herself a “vegetal visual” and not a visual artist. She experiments with movement, form, and sense while also playing with colors and materials.
Her objective is the establishment of a link between art and the environment, of man and of vegetation. But it’s also about making people aware of nature’s beauty, of its fragility, of the equilibrium and the wellbeing that it produces, so that we can understand the importance of respecting and preserving it.
Vegetation is an important part of her work. She loves “vegetating” letters, objects, infrastructures, and buildings. Finally, she works more and more on big projects, including a giant woman, sculptures supporting a 150-year-old Sequoia tree, and huge letters.
Nature withers away and disappears; massive urbanization has left it somewhat forgotten.
It is vital. It knows !
Then, she began to sculp old trees with hole inside and roots. She also create vegetal scenographies and installations. She won call for projects in France and Belgium and she will create a sustainable vegetal scenography in Auvers- sur- Oise Castle in september.