What connects

Jehanne Paternostre collects small scraps of thread that have fallen to the floor in the tapestry restoration workshop. They are the trace of a history of detachment-attachment, and are reborn in multiple forms linking drawing, weaving and writing.

Following on from Bangyao Li and Sen Li’s exhibition on loss and forgetting, Jehanne Paternostre also takes us on a journey into the world of waste, or even the dust left behind by tapestries undergoing restoration! The artist collects tiny scraps of thread that have fallen from the restoration tables and brings them back to the surface as traces and witnesses of past actions.

Combining her research on the different structures of memory, the artist practices an aesthetic of finitude. Jehanne Paternostre considers old tapestries in the same way that she has analyzed memorials. These tapestries represent, on the front side, that is, on the surface of the tapestry, a multitude of stories, myths, and events. But it is the reverse side, with its signs and traces, that the exhibition “Ce qui relie” (What Connects) reveals to us.

The grand narratives depicted on the front of the tapestry enter into dialogue with the reverse side, offering us a forgotten or barely legible part of its history. It is this that attracts Jehanne Paternostre, who is decidedly situated in the in-between.

From the visible, the artist draws us towards the invisible, an unknown place where the threads connect, revealing their path. Under repair, the other side of the work reveals holes, or areas where light shines through, proving that nothing can ever be completely hidden.