Herbier

Herbier is a series of drawings executed on Richard de Bas paper. The Richard-de-Bas paper mill in Ambert (Auvergne, center of France) is a place dear to the artist’s childhood, whose grandparents owned the neighboring house. It is one of the oldest French companies that produces its paper from textiles. A skill that resonates with the Margaux Fontaine’s practice, who works mainly on antique sheets, which she generally adorns with embroidery and reproductions of flora and simples (plants used since antiquity for their medicinal properties) using printing techniques and natural dyes.

This herbarium, enriched with extracts from texts and inspired by archives (study of plants from the National Herbarium of the Cévennes, study of the language of plants, ecology, legends and holistic phytotherapy) seeks to highlight the power of plants as living beings, medicinal plants, nourishers, companions, vital and in constant conversation with their fellow creatures as well as with the animal world, in line with ancient works and in particular Dioscorides’ De Materia Medica.