Prune Nourry ‘Contemporary Archeology’

Galerie Daniel Templon is delighted to present the first solo exhibition in Belgium by young French artist Prune Nourry. Contemporary Archeology sees Nourry transform the gallery space to recreate the experience of a contemporary archaeological site.

This new proposition relates directly to Terracotta Daughters, her long-term project featuring an army of girls, inspired by the Xi’an terracotta warriors, which Nourry buried in 2015 at a secret site in mainland China.

The 108 sculptures, homages to young girls never born, victims of gender selection, travelled the world during 2014, from Shanghai to Mexico City via Paris, Zurich and New York. They will remain buried until 2030, the year when the consequences of China’s one-child policy will peak, marking the moment when the country experiences the greatest gender imbalance ever seen.

Visitors to the Brussels gallery are taken on an immersive journey inside a space transformed using earth and a variety of artistic materials. Inside they encounter the works — bronze and terracotta sculptures and photographs — as well as the stages in Nourry’s creative process, which have become works of art in themselves, in the form of film and an installation evoking the processes that go on behind the scenes at her studio.

Galerie Daniel Templon (press release)