Carefully cut out paper to draw a silhouette, an object, a landscape by contrast. At the Alcôve gallery in the 1st arrondissement of Lyon, Maïe Alexandre exhibits her works. The artist uses kirigami to draw attention to the plight of endangered animals.
Behind the front of the Alcove gallery, a hypnotic show takes place. Maïe Alexandre is a kirigamist. At her work table, she removes pieces of paper one by one, each strip thinner than the other. Against all expectations, the void created filled the canvas. To understand his work, you just have to open the door.
Maïe works at the gallery under the gaze of passers-by.
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© France 3 Rhône-Alpes
With a sharpened blade as her only cutting instrument, a scalpel which seems to be an extension of her hand, Maïe begins her paper lace.
Her gaze fixed on the paper, breathing with metronome regularity, she “hollows out” her panther.
Hundreds of hours of work are necessary for the meticulousness to work.
Kirigami is, in Japanese culture, the art of paper cutting. It is through this art that Maïe expresses herself.
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© France 3 Rhône-Alpes
“Here, for example, these are cutouts that are only a few millimeters long, sometimes only ONE millimeter. So it’s about taking your time and being careful.” explains Maïe.
Be careful… everything is said. All white space in the initial sketch should disappear.
For two years, this adopted Lyonnaise has been practicing the Japanese art of Kirigami.
It is through each thin strip of paper removed that the animal can be seen.
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© France 3 Rhône-Alpes
An intrigued passerby entered the gallery to take a closer look at Maïe’s work.
Cap on his head, his tiny dog trapped under his tattooed arm, he scrutinizes the hands, the paper, the hands, the scalpel.
“Do you do everything with the scalpel?”
“Yes, everything with the scalpel”, replies Maïe smiling.
“VDid you draw a picture?”
“Yes that’s itconfirms the artist. It’s me who did it. I made a sketch first, always on a single sheet. I have to think, so that everything fits together, and once I have made the drawing, I cut everything out. It really becomes a fine lace. When I hold it, it only represents the animal”. Supporting gesture it shows how the parts remaining on the sheet are linked, without ever distorting the subject.
“We feel that there is really a research, that there is a work, an involvement”, relates the impromptu visitor. Visibly excited, he does not hide his admiration, “it changes from everything we can see, that’s also what’s interesting.”
After a few touches of paint and resin, his panther will join the other animals in the exhibition.
Maïe takes endangered species as her subject to alert public opinion, like this mother lemur and her young.
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© France 3 Rhône-Alpes
“Je mainly take species in danger of extinction. For example, this lemur, in fact, I wanted to show the fragility, the sensitivity with this mother who carries her two little ones.“, explains the artist.
Paper lace evokes the vulnerability of nature.
Maïe Alexandre exhibits until June 30 at the Galerie Alcôve, in the 1st arrondissement of Lyon.
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© France 3 Rhône-Alpes
Maïe does not yet make a living from her passion but she plans to eventually donate part of this income to animal protection associations.
The curious, passers-by, animal lovers or kirigami enthusiasts can come and contemplate the finesse of its cutouts until June 30.
