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“If in fairy tales, houses are made of sweets, Nadege Meriau does the reverse, transforming the edible into a dwelling, making architectures of fibers, vegetables and porous matter. This is an architecture of the digestible, made of curves and unexpected textures, that recall the art of the rocaille, or when a grotto is endowed with a viscosity that reminds us of a digestive apparatus” Olivier Richon, 2011 (Artist and Head of Photography at the Royal College of Art)

My practice explores the possibilities of creating images that combine the visceral and the sublime. Drawing on the idea of perception as participatory and the body as part of the flesh of the world, my work addresses the senses. Images of incandescent and dripping dwellings not only evoke primeval hungers but also envelop and absorb.
My investigations are rooted in Gaston Bachelard’s concept of the intimate immensity, the romantic longing to ‘incorporate infinity’ and my interest in biomimicry.
I understand ecology in the true sense of the word, as in the study of habitation (“Okologie, from GK Oikos “house, dwelling place, habitation”+ Logi “ study of’).
I am interested in the nesting instinct, in what we call ‘home’, whether it is our domestic, social, or natural environment. How do we root ourselves in a space, a community? How do we create a sense of belonging? How do we define our identities?
The potato rhizome produces a constellation of roots and shoots as it feeds off the soil, gradually creating a space for itself, much like we create a sense of belonging through making multiple connections within our community.
As the worm slowly creates its habitat by digesting coarse earth into humus, so does the artist turn their life experience into stories and metaphors.
My current practice investigates the emerging interest in alternative dwellings such as the hobbit house by Simon Dale. Could it be that in a world of uncertainty we long for intra-uterine architectures? And could this be a manifestation of our subconscious desire to return to the womb or the origins of life?

Contact

Lives and works in North London.

Education

2009-2011 - MA Photography at the RCA, London, Uk

1992-1995 - BA Photography Bournemouth Art Institute, Uk

Awards

Nominated for Discovery Award (Prix de la decouverte)
Les rencontres d'Arles., 2012

Nominated for Lumi Art Award, 2011

Shortlisted for Hoopers Award , 2011

Winner Sustain RCA Honorary Mention Award, 2011

Shortlisted for Conran Award, 2011

Shortlisted for Bloomberg New Contemporaries, 2011

Nominated for the National Magazine Award, 2010

Creative Review Annual, 2 winning entries., 2008

Nominated for the Sovereign European Art Prize by Greg Hobson, 2008

Rencontres d'Arles, Photo Folio Review and Gallery winner, nominated by Benoit Rivero (Actes Sud)., 2007

Selected for the Art4Aid Exhibition and Unicef Auction, Amsterdam., 2007

Schweppes Portrait Award, winning entry , exhibition poster and book cover., 2005

Recent Exhibitions

2012

-Group Show curated by Olivier Richon, Senior Common Room, RCA, London.
-TINATA, culinary performances curated by Silvio Palladino, East London
-Collectible, Group Show curated by Rosalind Davis and Annabel Tilley, ZAP Project Space, London.
-Photo-Soup, Group Show, Unit 24, London.
-Prix de la Decouverte, Solo Show, Parc des Ateliers, Arles Festival 2012, France.

2011

-RCA Work in Progress Show , Gulbenkian Gallery, Royal College of Art, London.
-SHOW BATTERSEA , Royal College of Art, London.
-Trick of the Light curated by Nick Kaplony, Core Gallery,London.
-Summer Show, Hoopers Gallery,London
-Sustain RCA Show & Award 2011, London Design Festival, Lower Gulbenkian Gallery, Royal College of Art, London
-Brighton Fringe Open'11 Exhibition ,curatorial collective, mentor Charlotte Cotton, Phoenix Gallery, Brighton
-RCA Secret, Gulbenkian Gallery, Royall College of Art, London

2010

-MA Interim Show , Gulbenkian Gallery, Royal College of Art, London
-Album curated by Morgan Quaintance, Wolstenholme Project Space, Liverpool Biennal Independants, Liverpool.
-Duets and Duels curated by Louise Clement, Kaunas Photography Festival 2010, Lithuania.
-RCA Secret Gulbenkian Gallery, Royal College of Art, London.
-Undercurrents, Fringe Focus Space,Brighton Photo Fringe Festival, Brighton.

2009

Exposure curated by Louise Clement as part of the Format International Photography Festival, The Quad,Derby, UK. (see website)

2008

Curious Nature curated by Day+Gluckman, Collyer Bristow Gallery, London and toured to Newlyn Art Gallery,Cornwall.

2007

-Art for Aid JCI Sotheby’s UNICEF Juried Exhibition, Amsterdam
-Voies Off Selection Internationale, Les Rencontres d'Arles.
-Bloedmooi >curated by Silvia B,Group Exhibition including Karen Knorr, Alexander Mac Queen and Risk Hazekamp at the Historish Museum,Rotterdam.

2006

-The Subterranean Garden curated by Jessica Crombie,The Crypt St Pancras, London.
-Solo show at the Barts Hospital curated byVital Arts during Photo Month, London

For press and publications see ARCHIVE