Working with stone and clay, Cemi develops a sculptural practice rooted in materials imbued with memory. A French sculptor based in Nantes, she explores substances often described as inert, yet permeated by time and the cycles of life. She does not create matter: she displaces it, reorganizes it, shapes it, like a current diverting stones or a wind sculpting dunes and landscapes.
His creative process unfolds in three stages: an initial intuition sets the research in motion; a phase of chaos brings out rhythms and tensions within the material; and finally, a period of refinement and exploration of the piece’s breathing gradually guides it toward the right presence.
In her marble carving practice, she works primarily with existing materials: scraps from Italian marble workshops or rough fragments from quarries. This approach involves a thoughtful process. Reusing these pre-machined or quarried blocks allows her to minimize the use of new resources and to adopt a more mindful approach to the materials we extract.
Nature shapes her imagination. Her approach is rooted in the idea of composition as an inner model. It all begins with an experience: standing on the ground, looking up, and fixing her gaze between the earth and the stars. The stars speak to her of dimensions and distant realms, while underground spaces bring her back to the mineral world. It is a world dominated by the question of time and space. From this experience, she creates a path from the earth to the stars, which she constructs through figures: birds, buildings, and mechanical devices. But also through the elements (fire, air, water, earth), conceived as active forces that traverse forms, shift them, and transform them.
In her work, she establishes rhythms, solids and voids, fractures, connections, and points of convergence.
The void occupies a central place. It is neither absence nor a simple interval: it acts as a breath, a space of tension and relation. It connects, separates, opens, creates dialogue, and establishes an inner circulation. It is the very condition of form, an invisible backbone from which she constructs her works.
Thus, the void acts as a watermark—both a presence and a silence—guiding the arrangement of the rooms without ever imposing itself directly. Though sometimes imperceptible, it nevertheless sets a direction and transforms perception.
Cemi approaches sculpture as a living space where form is a constant process. Her artistic style is a search for breath, for a rhythm: inhalation and exhalation; a dialogue in which she takes and gives back. Material, space, and silence intertwine in a rhythmic pulse. Her sculptures are created as much by ear as by eye.
Her greatest ambition is to question form freely, without preconceptions; to remain attentive to signs so that breath and energy may bring form to life. The viewer is invited to move through the sculpture, to slow down, and to let go of habitual ways of seeing.
