"I'm a forager. My work elevates the vegetal world that we all know but rarely observe in its all its magnificence.  Slowing down, taking the time to behold, contemplate - allows me to create by using the natural elements that I encounter while foraging.

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This relationship with flora inspires and guides me to assemble and arrange a palette of natural elements. They translate what I feel while in nature.  I see the vegetation as a medium to express my emotions. I use nylon thread as its transparency balances the fragility of my work. The visual translucidity gives the impression that one breath could destroy it all:  a reflection of the impermanence of life. The very real and onerous threat to nature makes me that much more attentive to my surroundings each time I go out. Nature is, for me, the poet, the words and the poetry - the spirit of the earth. " - Manuele Bernardi 2023

BIOGRAPHY

Manuele Bernardi was born in 1959 in Saint-Tropez. She lives and works in in Roussillon in the south of France. After completing Studies at the Roderer Academy in Paris, she followed night courses at Beaux Arts and at the same time works as a décor creator for publicity films, newspaper and other advertising companies. She started as an illustrator of children’s books, became a painter, and now expresses herself through her sculpture.

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Bernardi's work is anchored in her environment whether in the countryside of the Luberon or the sophistication of bustling cities. She observes and utilizes what intrigues her: roots, twigs, seeds, stones as well as paper, film, cloth and glass; transforming them so that a cluster of grapes becomes an aerial journey as butterflies find their way from darkness to light.

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So as she magnifies aspects of her environment, her work, after passing through the filter of her hands always displays what we have previously failed to see. She demonstrates it’s meaning and therein lies her generosity.