Helen Mirra: du vent au vent

Since the mid-1990s, Helen Mirra has built up a body of poetic works that combine elements related to landscape, mathematics and language. Running through them is a strong vein of oriental philosophy as well as the influence of writers, particularly Americans such as Henry David Thoreau or the philosopher John Dewey best known for advocating experience-led education. Helen Mirra has selected 30 works for her exhibition in Rochechouart, spanning a period from beginnings in the mid-1980s to the present day. They are specifically displayed in non-chronological order, emphasising especially her walks which she defines as an activity that is both humble and free. The exhibition title “du vent au vent” (from wind to wind) conveys poetic notions of impermanence and fleeting time. It also refers to the importance Helen Mirra attributes to her creative process of incorporation. She states that it is not about just “being in the wind but also about being the wind.” Helen Mirra records landscape with a certain aesthetic preference for fragments but her intention is not to map out reality. The works invite reflection on the actions we carry out everyday, on the meanings of our acts and on their consequences for ourselves and our environment.