Coquilles

Marie-Michelle Deschamps’s latest body of work, Coquilles, engages with language at an ontological level. Drawing on asemic writing—a form of writing that forgoes traditional meaning in favour of mark-making—Deschamps invites viewers into a playful yet profound encounter with the unknown. Stripped of legibility, the essence of language emerges here as a complex system of signs and gestures. 

A chain of large, enigmatic amulets unfurls across the gallery, imposing a path to the visitors — a subtle choreography. The charms, both mysterious and imposing, dictate a spatial logic that invites contemplation and forces a rhythm upon the viewer’s experience. In this way, the piece embodies the act of reading—not as a tool for conveying meaning, but as a force that moves us physically and mentally, acting like a propeller that fulfils its purpose.

Elsewhere in the gallery, a large work composed of twisted and contorted bands of enamelled copper reveals flashes of verdigris. These glimpses hint at the invisible forces that have come to shape the material. Contours evokes the linguistic tension between structure and fluidity, becoming a kind of enigmatic temporal cipher—a continuum that links the past and the present. The same interest in construction, linguistics as much as architectural and ornamental, is also present in the series of bas-reliefs titled Coquilles, produced in bronze for the first time. This collection of new works explores how language— at once sacred, communal, yet deeply personal—is intimately bound to a profound desire for protection and connection. In this regard, the enameled wall pieces, the largest ones produced by the artist to date, take inspiration in diatoms—unicellular algae that have intricate glass-like shells. These tiny organisms construct fragile transparent shields that allow light to pass through to feed them while offering them much-needed protection. 

At the heart of Deschamps’s practice is an ongoing exploration of encryption and coded language. Her sculptures and bas-reliefs, crafted in patinated bronze or enameled copper—sometimes enhanced with fine silver— evoke ancient talismans or amulets, objects once used as protective charms. Deschamps’s meticulous process of tracing, cutting, hammering and modeling infuses her materials with a kind of primal, arcane energy. 

The symbols and patterns employed by the artist resist easy interpretation. The asemic language she develops becomes a gesture, imbuing her works with a tactile sense of communication that transcends conventional linguistic boundaries. These visual codes, derived from historical scripts, cryptographic systems, and sgrafitto techniques, transform the gallery into a site of encoded narratives where the image and the word dissolve into one another. Coquilles invites viewers to navigate their own encounter with the unknowable, to read signs of obscured significance, and to find the beauty that lies in the indeterminate. Like scribes tracing forgotten letters, viewers become participants in Deschamps’s intricate pursuit of form and meaning.

To consult the artist’s profile, please click here.

_{Text by Anaïs Castro}