Hailing from Bordeaux, France, visual artist Sarah Trouche explores parallels in political and cultural issues across cultures in her visual pieces. Her new performance is centered around women’s emancipation. Trouche uses her artistic ability to encourage an educated dialect and to question the cultural and political values that the world is currently centered around.
Her collective piece, “You should wear a revolution” premiered at the LA Art Show. The performance sees the artist engage with a surrounding of red and violet hued undergarments donated by hundreds of women, woven into suspended structures made of barbwire. A reflection of women speaking out about their privacy. Ahead of her performance we were able to speak with the artist about her cultural and political issues of women’s rights.
**Your new performance is committed to research on women’s emancipation, can you explain to me what your new piece, You should wear your revolution, symbolizes and where you got the inspirations to make it?**
A few months ago after a performance, I started to exchange and discuss with a member of the audience, a french woman around 50 years old told me she would love to be part of a change but she doesn’t know if she is able to do something like that.
I told her that she could be active in the world around her with only little change in her everyday life. She asked if I work sometimes on collective pieces and I must say my pieces are collective in the sense that I try to be a blank page for others to talk about, to share their issues and say them out loud. When I perform I am mostly alone, this means there is less risk and responsibility and it makes me think of collectives pieces that women like her could be part of. I always refer to history and art history in general in my work. I believe that the references we have helps a lot to construct what we shape today.
THEN HERE NOW
Our french revolution starts with the "sans culottes" movement. In reference to this I decided to create a collective piece « you should wear your revolution ».
Over several months I collected hundreds of underwear from women around the world.
In this action the underwear pattern is the sign of women speaking out about their privacy, brandishing their underwear together in the creation of an art piece.
**Does your work regarding political issues reflect France’s culture and government system, or do you have pieces that showcase different countries, cultures or the world as a whole?**
I don’t focus on France even if I have been working on french issues too.
My work is centered around cultural and political issues such as women rights, migration displacement and ecology; I invite us to question the major challenges we face today. In my actions (sculptures, videos etc), I attempt to enlighten our understanding of marginalization, the work critiques, our political social and economic structures and articulate the experience of « Otherness ». I have been working to name some in China, Kazakstan, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Cambodia, Macedonia, Sweden, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, Greece, USA, Brazil, Mexico, Panama, Morocco and Benin.
I believe that we are all equal but we are not the same.
I will answer to all the calls, no matter if you are from the art world or not, living in the amazon jungle in Brazil or in New York City.
**In your opinion, what are the most important issues in our world today? Which issues do you address the most in your art?**
Liberty, Egality, Fraternity.
**Do you hope that your art is inspiring others to make change in the world? What message do you hope your work is sending?**
I want to be a painter of the modern body and I am trying to make other people recognize something of themselves.
I hope my work will shout loud;
"Lets us work together with courage and patience to make the world more Equal."
**Is there another form of art that you hope to do in the future? What form of expression do you think best exhibits what you’re trying to say?**
Yes I have a dance company called "Winter story in the wild jungle."
I worked with the choreographer Wynn Holmes on a piece called « Vertical strike » made possible with Sakura Dotation Fund. We worked with non professional dancer like Strip teasers and professional women boxers associated with professional dancers on an ongoing process related to feminist art history.
The piece will be presented in Montréal at Festival Quartier Danse at the Place des Arts.
I work also on a second choreographic piece with the choreographer Marcel Gbeffa from Bénin called Didé. The piece will be presented at the CDCN atelier Carolyn Carlson in Paris at the end of 2019.
The other form will be workshops and teaching.
I really believe education is the key for world change. I have a workshop program called the Protagonist addressed to professionals like universities but also non professional (like sports associations etc).
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