CelineSianiDjiakoua

Today I took part in a private event held at Valerie Turton's allotment and organised by Harry Martin. I was sharing some work in progress made after a trip to Tenerife last month where I took the opportunity to make a few ecoprints with the local vegetation. I got very much fascinated by the dramatic atmosphere of this volcanic island with its coal-black beaches and stormy skies. At Loughborough printworkshop I put together a tiny travel book which collates ecoprints, a few photos taken during my stay and some shopping receipts, packaging, maps etc ... I also made a few drawings inspired by the Black Madonna and started to try out some printmaking. Only some of the drawings and the mini book were shown today.      Photo : Valery Turton Photo : Valery Turton

This text is a transcript of spoken thoughts I recorded in August after a dream.  While sharing various reflections about my life and my art practice, this piece could also be presented under an audio form, maybe accompanied by moving images .... I am seeing it more and more interesting to record my ideas through speaking them rather than writing them. However, I don't know how it is received once transcripted into written words .... Whether they work in both forms or not is something I want to explore .... The whole process is for me about finding MY VOICE .... “At some point in my dream, someone was showing me a pack of seeds with something written on it. And I knew that this plant was supposed to help me. But I was rushing to the next thing and I didn’t even stop just to pick it up …. He was really showing me the pack of seeds, right into my face but I just passed by, thinking “Oh yeah, planting those seeds, because I very much need to use this plant for myself !”....

Being able to ACT, even with small actions, to support a cause, is priceless.... NO MORE exploitation  of the Planet,  of Nature  of People. NO MORE destruction of the waters, the plants, the animals, the soil, the rocks, the air .... NO MORE support to wars . NO MORE distasteful greed. And will we even welcome all the refugees who will be fleeing floods, hunger, wars ... ? We are all caught in this, we are all interconnected. Let's act now, together ! Bunting made to support Extinction Rebellion for the October 2019  action in London, happy to later see them on site, on some Facebook pictures. "LOVE FLOWER POWER"                     Taking part in the London protests over the weekend..... Protesters Camp at Vauxhall Pleasure gardens under a non-stop pouring rain : Helping in the kitchens of Hare Krishna, usually feeding 100s of h...

Thrilled to have been offered a residency placement at Loughborough University for 2019-2020. "The AA2A project is a national set of schemes, providing visual artists and designer makers with the opportunity to undertake a period of research or realise a project, using workshop and supporting facilities in fine art and design departments of Higher and Further Education institutions. This gives participating artists and makers the opportunity to use equipment which otherwise might not be available to them, as well as benefiting the institution by allowing students to work alongside, and interact with practicing artists and makers." More about AA2A here The Barbarians, 2017 Ecoprints of my parents' garden in summer, 2018 My project : "The project I want to undertake through AA2A would come along and enrich a residency I have been invited to complete in 2019-2020, which would be the 1stpart in the long-term project of creating an interactive artist book mix...

Extract of an experimental 360 Virtual Reality animated scene made after one of my drawings during training sessions at the QUAD, Derby in 2018-2019. I imported some drawings and GIFs into the Unity software to create the scenery. In the sound track I share some thoughts about "the woman in the river" and how I came to draw her.            Filmed view of the VR animated scene - extract - 1 min 32 Voice over recording - 3min53

Solo exhibition - June 2019 - Nottingham "Join local artist and Near Now Studio Member Céline Siani Djiakoua to celebrate the launch of a new website, alongside a showcase of works in progress. Céline will be showing works in progress that explore recent developments in her practice, following a period of training and learning enabled by new technologies and techniques. Works on display will include a 360˚ virtual reality animation, developed as part of a professional development programme at Quad (Derby), outcomes from an introductory course in printmaking at Leicester Print Workshop, experiments with eco-printing and examples of her line drawings."                                                           CLICK here to access the website 360 VR animation + sound track Ecoprints books Print...

I was back to my childhood house this summer, on the countryside, near Nantes. Every summer, I try to make the best of the sun and its heat and I  experiment with techniques that are far less enjoyable in damp winters. Making paper is one of them. This time, I decided to recycle some books that had been waiting to be transferred to my house in the UK but were still there, 16 years later .... I picked "Onitsha by J.M.G Le Clézio" (Onitsha is a city in Niger ). I vaguely remembered it as being a sad and upsetting novel. I stopped reading novels years and years ago. I prefer autobiographies or specialised books. I don't find pleasure in entering someone else's emotional and imaginary worlds, I've got enough to deal with my own, I'd rather watch a movie. It had been offered to me by my mum, as we were going to Sénégal for a holiday. As I started to cut the pages to make the paste, I realised I had put a lot of myself into this book at the time, adding some...