LIA ROCHAS

WE LOVE WOMEN 

PHOTOS BY CLAIRE O'KEEFE

Lia Rochas-Pàris is an artist from a family of artists based in Paris - her father was a Portuguese-born artist and her mother a contemporary dancer of Swiss-German origin.

“Without thinking about it, the environment in which I grew up undoubtedly influenced the way I perceive the world. The studio in which I live and work was my father’s studio, and when he passed away, I took over the space with my daughter. We live in the same building as my mother. Today, three generations of women live at the same address. The notion of transmission is essential, visceral even, in my daily life. We're very closely linked and learn from each other. I can't separate my creative work from my daily life - the two are linked. I need to be able to develop my creativity at any time of the day or night. I love the silence that is conducive to creation as much as I love festive moments as a form of Sabbath, essential for decompressing. My studio is a lively place.”

Working in both collage and poetry, she defines her work as composing with images and words: “There's an echo between words and images in my work. I see poetry as a collage of words, and my collages offer a free poetic reading.”

“I've been making collage art since I was 17, at a time when I couldn't leave my house because of a trauma. In a way, I was disconnected from concrete reality. Symbolically, collage enabled me to deconstruct in order to re-construct by cutting out magazines I'd accumulated. Paper is still accessible, and you can draw material from magazines, books and photographs. The process of cutting allows you to take a certain distance and to be humble: you don't invent the origin of the source, but you can change the form, the meaning. I take great pleasure in hunting out magazines and books, letting myself be surprised by chance finds.”

“For me, everything is a collage, a composition of everything we've assimilated. Each element can have an impact on the way we perceive the world. I see each source of inspiration as part of a puzzle that fits together with other pieces we collect during our lives. Whether it's readings, music, films, conversations that resonate…. Words and images play an essential role in my creative process. I let myself go with the instinct of composition, even if a personal language emerges, it's never really premeditated. Certain subjects are recurrent, such as minerality, the female body, dancing movement, the Milky Way and the moon. For years now, I've been drawing on resources conducive to free interpretation and trying to open up new ways through doors I didn’t expect.”

“I think that when I'm creating, I immerse myself in a kind of trance state that allows me to go beyond consciousness, in the way that dreams can do, but not those of my nights.

Through this instinctive approach, there's a mystery linked to balance, harmony and the space between, what the Japanese call "Ma". We don't know why this or that element in this or that place will become obvious. It's an alchemy. There's an element of chance. Part of my work hinges on the notion of "fossil for the future". I believe that every creation becomes an archive for the future - even if, in the case of collage, the source is already drawn from the archives.”

“It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards,' says the White Queen to Alice.”