Colours of a Territory

Collective, artistic and territorial research project.

Colours of a Territory is a multi-disciplinary research that explores the specific colour characteristics of landscapes through their local flora. Taking place in a variety of areas, this programme aims to reveal the unique nuances that nature has to offer, by examining the link between dye plants and regional landscape identities.

Anchored in a scientific, artistic and educational approach, the project takes the form of on-site artistic and cultural education workshops. It has been hosted by the Établissement Public du Mont Saint-Michel, the Beauport Abbey and the Parisian association Cerise sur le Gâteau.

These workshops are aimed at a diverse audience, including young people in precarious situations, secondary school pupils and inhabitants living in rural areas. For several days, participants are invited to take a new look at their environment by experimenting with plant dyeing and tufting.

Accompanied by the artist, they study the chromatic identity of the region, go out to harvest around the workshop site, identify the vernacular dye plants, prepare dye baths and sample the plant colours specific to their region. The shades obtained are used to dye skeins of local wool, which are then used in the collective creation of textile frescoes that, like the Pays'Âges, pay tribute to the region's wealth of flora and fauna.

Colours of a Territory is an invitation to slow down, observe the environment, learn by doing, and reconnect with a local memory through colour, materials and nature.

🤝 Commissioned by the Etablissement Public du Mont Saint-Michel, the Beauport Abbey and the Cerise sur le Gâteau association

🖼️ Colours of a Territory exhibitions at the Mont Saint-Michel Tourist Information Centre, the Joseph Savina High School and the Cité de Refuge (Beauvoir, Tréguier and Paris XIII 2024)

🌱 Local dye plants (dyer's knotweed, gorse, dock, oak, madder, reseda, chestnut, rhubarb, tamarisk, elder, ...), local wool, recycled cotton

📏 2000 x 1500 x 20 mm

📷 Kerguelen Beaudron