4 Covered market

Her polymorphic artistic practice, initiated in 1975, is built around multiples (postcards, artist books, posters...), but also objects and installations. Her work brings imaginary places and mysterious intrigues to life, thus creating narratives reminiscent of fairy tales. It finely intertwines texts and photographic images, which are revisited and retouched, colorized without naturalism. Images of nature and enhanced settings, in which the human figure is always absent, are amplified by the juxtaposition of captions or titles parodying the genres of fantastic literature and noir novels. Through these means alone, her productions offer a grand voyage of the mind.

For the 10th Biennale of Melle, in close partnership with the Frac-Artothèque Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Martine Aballéa is creating an in situ work that unfolds like a photo novel, with its 16 pages displayed on the walls of the Market Hall, a central place in the city's life.

"I wanted to create a story in Melle in which all the inhabitants could feel involved. I was struck by the strong presence of water, and from there, I made it the source of my fiction. Water and its reflections..."