Julie Chaffort - Pour la peau

Julie Chaffort was born in 1982, graduated from the École des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux and then continued her studies in New York alongside Werner Herzog.
As a video artist, meeting other people and interaction with her immediate surroundings are central to her creative approach, producing situations that are in turns amusing, moving, and fanciful. Her films unfold slowly, encouraging contemplation, whilst embracing the incongruous and the absurd.
The exhibition Song of the Hide specifically explores the unique place of animals in the artist's work. With their interaction with other forms of life — humans, plant life, etc. — animals become a means for a change in perspective, creating opportunities to look at things in a fresh way. Through her use of animals, Julie Chaffort invites us to question our preconceptions and to reconsider the way in which we think about ‘‘otherness’’.

The film Song of the Hide, which is shown for the first time as part of this exhibition, was produced by the Frac-Artothèque Nouvelle-Aquitaine as part of the Artists and Savoir-Faire program, in partnership with the Limoges Haute-Vienne Chamber of Commerce and Industry and with funding from the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region.

The companies awarded the Living Heritage Company label (Entreprises du Patrimoine Vivant or EPV) and who are partners in this project are:
- Chapal, Crocq (23)
- Bastin et Fils Tannery, Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat (87)
- J.M. Weston, Limoges (87)
- Rémy Martin, Cognac (16)
- Périgord Facsimile Workshop, Montignac (24)
- C2000, Limoges (87)
- Laine et Compagnie, Château-Chervix (87)
- Barris Butchers, Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche (87)

This film also received support from the DRAC Nouvelle-Aquitaine – Ministry of Culture, as part of the Art and the World of Work project.

• Julie Chaffort