"Fairy Whims" Exhibition

Sophie Hurié is a visual artist who lives and works in Angers. Her work explores memory and childhood memories through an ambiguous dialogue between fiction and reality. Playing on the themes of presence and absence, she constructs sensitive worlds where narratives overlap and transform. Through various mediums such as photography, installation, and scenography, she questions our perception of places, objects, and memories. Architecture plays a central role in the artist’s work. The “Tel Quel” series presents photographs of architectural structures in their natural settings. The tight framing, the exposure, the light—everything is raw; the artist does not seek to charm the viewer, but simply to show a certain reality. With her *Pinâcles*, Sophie Hurié recreates decorative elements that draw on a shared medieval imagination. These ornaments, typically intended for the tops of buildings, are now found on the ground; their forms are reduced to a minimum, and their material—usually hard—is here simply artificial foam. The ensemble creates an illusion, and the artist recreates a forest of decorative elements such as those seen on the roofs of the most impressive Gothic structures. It is also on the rooftops that her *Caprices de fées* come to life. The artist photographs chimneys crafted in a wide variety of styles and forms. Colorized and printed on large panels, the illusion is once again perfect—with just a slight discrepancy that challenges the viewer and leads them into a fictional contemplation.