[Lady Art] Joël Andrianomearisoa on Materializing Emotion Through Art and Getting Lost in the Lady Dior Labyrinth

“This bag is an emotion, Dior is an emotion for me,” says Joël Andrianomearisoa, the latest guest on the Dior Talks series themed around the 5th edition of Dior Lady Art and hosted by Paris-based journalist Katya Foreman.

Delving into the concepts and processes behind his layered, tactile creations for the project, the Malagasy artist discusses the challenges of condensing his universe in the Lady Dior bag.

Entitled the Lady Dior Labyrinth, Joël’s reinterpretation of the iconic handbag is a direct continuation of his black paper series, notably an immersive work created for the first Madagascar Pavilion at the 2019 Venice Biennale, entitled “I Have Forgotten the Night.” That sensorial piece, based on memories of Madagascar, invited the audience to walk through a labyrinth made of black tissue paper curtains. He describes his work as “a research exercise to materialize emotions.”

Covered in a mille-feuille leaves of leather and black radzimir silk, in two different versions for night and day, this handwork-intensive bag is a testament to the savoir-faire of the petites mains in the Dior Atelier and the elaborate rituals that go into making one of the House’s most recognizable icons. “Mille-feuille for me is like Dior, it’s part of French culture,” says the artist, who also redesigned the Dior logo, using his own font. His fascination with duality, meanwhile, plays out in the immaculate white lining embroidered with the cryptic message: “Take me to the end of all loves.”

Discover Joel Andrianomearisoa’s creations : https://youtu.be/quTrTOkywWM

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