“For Rodin, hands are “the essence of the body”.
He sculpts them like we would of a face.
They have their own life.
We forget they belong to a body.
They tell about tenderness or sadness,
They tell about prayers or horrors.
With their ten fingers, they narrate life.”
What is Art Jewellery?
Art Jewellery is questioning who we are, what we do, what is happening around us. It’s intimate, emotional, and also social and political. And sometimes it is just what it is, because it cannot not be.
Art Jewellery differs from any other Art form due to its nature and “role”: jewellery’s primary use is to be worn, to adorn our body, and in doing so it defines us, gives us an identity for ourselves and for others to see. It can also engender questions that are intimate, directly related to who we are, what we think, how we perceive ourselves and the world.
Jewellery is an intimate item which values (set aside its monetary value) rely on one’s personal feelings about the object, and in addition it is meant to be worn on the body, on our skin, and as such it becomes part of us, sometimes nearly as much as any other part of the body, with the difference that this is the only part of the body we can truly choose to wear or not (although some could argue otherwise).
Finding a definition for what is Jewellery and what is not is impossible due to its nature: it is individual, it is defined only by the wearer and/or the audience. However in the case of Art jewellery, there is perhaps one element that could unite it: it asks questions, to the maker, the wearer and/or to the audience. Whether one wants to take part in it is a very personal choice. Wearing and/or looking at art jewellery is a philosophical experience, as much as creating it. Though admitting this is already perhaps narrowing it down to much…
Projects :
” It is not strange to find this stern and strong metal mingled so delicately in our human life that we cannot even blush without its help? ”
(John Ruskin)
Using the body as a canvas, I like to expose feelings on the surface of the skin. I create large-scale jewellery using traditional silversmithing techniques, mixing precious materials and found objects, whether natural or man-made, to make visible what is invisible to the eye.
My aim is to create a mosaic of emotions experienced on a journey (a body in movement) whether physical or spiritual, travelling on the road or in time, as well as in the context of exile and forced migration.
I use the symbolism of birds, feathers and wings through mythological references to analyse and discuss our perception of the different versions of existence: Athena’s wings of victory, Icarus’ s wings of doom, the Phoenix burnt and reborn, the feather as an instrument of knowledge and communication…
The use of found objects in my work serves as a reminder of our reliance on the environment we live in. It is also used in a symbolic way to represent the idea of movement: wood carried by the sea to lands far away, feathers travelling the world on the wings of a bird.
Creating out of textured precious metals and gemstones allows me to emphasise on the introspective nature of my work: patterned silver or gold becomes skin, lines of wire, veins and sensations inside the body, an iridescent stone, a window into the soul…
Influenced by the bizarre world of the Surrealists, I hope for my work to leave the viewer with an imprint of a vision: a sort of dream-like feeling, where the border between dreams and reality is faint, and also to leave room for people’s own interpretation.
‘The Journey’ Project
How do we transcend Milan Kundera’s ‘Unbearable Lightness of Being’ ?
‘In my Heart’ Project
Trying to find the close connections between the body and our own feelings: Jewellery as a metaphor of that ‘space’, that in-between, the link between the physical body we live in and our inner emotions, our inner self…
Cloelea Jewellery 