About - Nadège Mériau

“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 current 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 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?

Education

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

1992-1995 - BA Photography Bournemouth Art Institute, Uk

Awards

Nominated for the Arts Foundation Fellowship 2013 for
Still Life Photography, 2012

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

Winner, Creative Review Annual., 2008

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

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

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

Winner, Schweppes Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London, 2005

Exhibitions & Residencies

2013

Academy Now, curated by Laura Petrillo, Hanmi Gallery, London 13-20 January 2013
Winter Open,The Florence Trust, London, February 2013
Au Centre de la Terre, Festival Les Photographiques, Centre des Expositions Paul Courboulay, Le Mans, France, 9-31 March 2013
Rushing to Paradise, The Royal Standard Project Space, 30th May-1st June 2013
Mycotopia, Solo show curated by Jude Benett, Anarch Gallery, Enclave Projects, Deptford, London 15th June- 31st August 2013
Antechamber curated by Day&Gluckman, Collyer Bristow Gallery, London 20th-June-2nd October 2013
Summer Show curated by Paul Bailey, The Florence Trust, London, 5th-14th July 2013

2012

-Snow, Ilan Engel Gallery, 10th November 2012- 20th January 2013
-Tulca Arts Festival, Galway, November 2012, Ireland
-Fresh Faced and Wild Eyed, Photographer's Gallery,September 2012.
-Florence Trust Residency August 2012-July 2013, London
-To the Centre of the Earth, Solo Show curated by Isabel de Vasconcellos as part of Global Feast during the Olympics, Old Stratford Town Hall
-Discovery Award, Solo Show, Les Rencontres Internationales, July-Sept 2012 , Arles, France.
-Photosoup Group Show including artists Melanie Stildoph, Ej Major and Eti Wade, Unit 24 Gallery, April 2012, London.
-Group Show curated by Olivier Richon, Senior Common Room, Royal College of Art, Sept 2012- Sept 2013, London

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

- Mise en Scene, Solo Show curated by Louise Clement as part of the Format International Photography Festival, The Quad,Derby, UK.

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.

Press

2012	-	Exerpt Photography Magazine, Melbourne, December 2012 Interiew, Gault&Millau Magazine, France, November 2012 Interview by Carrie Levy in Wired, September 7, 2012-10-13 http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2012/09/nad… Review by Laura Noble, Laura Noble blog, July 2012 http://www.lauraannnoble.blogspot.co.uk/… Review by Margaux Buyck , The Artship, August 24, 2012 http://theartship.it/home/dlyaivxy/publi… Review in Karveelt in Wonderland blog, August 9, 2012 http://karveelt-in-wonderland.over-blog.… Review by Posi+tive Magazine, July 12 2012 http://www.positive-magazine.com/photogr… Review by Lunettes Rouges, Le Monde blog, July 30, 2012 http://lunettesrouges.blog.lemonde.fr/20…
2012	-	Review by Geraldine Dormoy, L’Express blog, July 16,2012 http://blogs.lexpress.fr/styles/cafe-mod… Review by Francis Hodgson, Financial Times Blog, July 13, 2012 http://francishodgson.com/2012/07/13/eva… Review by Sean O’ Hagan, The Guardian, July 8, 2012 http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2… Article by Hugh Mooney in RWA Bristol Art Magazine, Spring 2012 http://issuu.com/rwabristol/docs/rwa_art…
2011	-	Contact Editions Blog, November 2011 http://www.contacteditions.co.uk/nadege-… Art Review, The Week, August 20, 2011 Artist Newsletter, June/July 2011 Review by Bridget Croaker , Troika Editions blog, June 2011 http://www.troikaeditions.co.uk/troikata… Review by Bradley Hayman in Artcritiqued blog, July 5,2011 http://artcritiqued.com/2011/07/05/world…
2009	-	Spectrum, Sunday Times, March 2009
2008	-	Review by Rupert White, Art Cornwall , April 26, 2008 (see website)
2005	-	Metro Art Review, November 11, 2005

Publications

2012	-	Tulca Arts Festival catalogue, November 2012 Rencontres Arles Photography 2012, Actes Sud.
2011	-	Hardcover, Blackdog Publishing, 2011 Brighton Photo Fringe catalogue, 2011
2010	-	Brighton Photo Fringe Festival catalogue, October 2010
2009	-	Photocinema, Format Festival catalogue
2008	-	Bloodmoi , Historisch Museum Rotterdam Exhibition catalogue
2005	-	Schweppes Photographic Portrait Prize, National Portrait Gallery Catalogue, 2005