Born in 1980 in Strasbourg, France, Elyse lives and works in Brussels, Belgium. After her education in applied arts in Strasbourg, she studied fine arts in Besançon, France, which she completed with the diploma DNSEP (level Master) in 2004. To extend her practical skills, she entered the Atelier de Couture (tailoring studio) of Caroline in Ixelles, Belgium. During her studies, the artist frequented internships and artist residences. In particular, she made work placements at the Nouveau Théâtre in Besançon and the Opéra la Monnaie in Brussels, where she still occasionally assists in the making of decors and costumes.
These activities were guiding for Elyse’s artistic practice. Often, her installations evoke stage designs, where fabric plays an important role. Concurrently, she works as scenographer and costume designer for several theatres like the Théâtre de la Guimbarde, Charleroi, Belgium and the Lily & Compagnie, Tournai, Belgium. Her experience in tailoring are a good base for these tasks. Since 2006 arises a passion for embroidery, which is reflected in her creative outcome. Thereby, the thread is increasingly replaced by natural hair, like in our artwork of the month of March 2018.
Beyond that, Elyse processes natural hair and resembling materials in sculptural installations, like the series “de corps et d’esprit” and “de l’intime”. For monumental installations like “orphélia” or “macrale” she uses brass wire. Going along with the integration of hair, is an interest in the female history and the women’s place in society. An expression for this research are the works in the artist’s first solo exhibition “Apolline, Constance et les autres…” (Spazio Testoni, Bologna, 25 November 2017 – 13 January 2018). There was the embroidery of the title giving series, the display portraits in natural hair (de corps et d’esprit), a brass wire installation and one room dedicated to female handiwork (ouvrage de dames). Like for the canvas hair embroidery, Elyse stitched texts from ancient manuals for female manners. Nevertheless, this time the dimensions are limited to handkerchiefs and the stitching is by “normal” threads.
With her sculptural installations, she was represented in many solo and group shows, mainly in France, Belgium and Italy. After the double personal exhibition “Fil rouge” with Donatella Lombardo at the gallery Contemporanea 2 in Florence (April 2018), the Milanese Manuel Zoia Gallery dedicated its booth to Elyse’s works at the BOOMING Contemporary Art Show in Bologna (January 2020). Here was our artwork of the month of October 2021 “Conversation” the first time on view.