Oma-je is a solo exhibition by acclaimed French artist Laure Prouvost that explores and celebrates her relationship to artistic predecessors. Prouvost presents a view on art history and personal relationships through homages and the inclusion of pieces by other artists of particular importance to Prouvost or to Remai Modern. Artworks in this show focus on what is passed from one generation to another, from artist to artist, from mother to child, and by humans to other living beings with whom we share the planet. The title of the show is a nod to the oma, grandmother, nana, grand-mère, and je, me, myself, the artist.
Oma-je invites you into immersive installations that feature video works, sculptures, and found objects. Read on for some of Prouvost’s thoughts on the concepts behind her work.
“Grandma is always hidden behind the man. That’s definitely a huge subject to put into words. All these artists from last century, the books are always about their art, and never about their life; what made them and their practices. This separation is hugely problematic. Where are the women? The mothers? Every story, every figure, who contributes, and supports; an artist’s life should be represented in their story. Indeed they are as important as the final piece.”
—Laure Prouvost for Extra Extra Magazine
Grandmothers who have shaped Laure Prouvost’s art and thinking through personal relationships or artistic admiration are the focus of Grandma’s Dream (2013) and the newly commissioned works Here Her Heart Hovers, Moving Her, Ada Programmed Our Future, Bzzz, We Were 130 Sisters, Gathering Ho Ma, and The Glaneuse (all 2023). The grandmothering celebrated in this exhibition is a verb, a practice of care, of mentorship, and of knowledge transfer rather than heredity or biology. An important grandfather of Prouvost’s art practice, John Latham, is also honoured in the piece End Her Is Story (2017).
“An octopus has its brain in its tentacles. Could we feel and think as quick as we touch? The only thing an octopus doesn’t have is a memory storage. So it’s extremely intelligent but it doesn’t memorize anything. So it’s about immediacy. This whole project was about meeting each other, meeting people on their way on a deep, deep, deep road trip into our subconscious.” “Who are we now?” “Who am I?” “What do I represent?”
—Laure Prouvost on her 2019 Venice Biennale work Deep See Blue Surrounding You for Frieze
How knowledge is transferred and by whom have been important questions in Prouvost’s work. This Means (2019) and Four For See Beauties (2022) offer surreal and watery worlds where matriarchs care and teach in preverbal, embodied and iconographic ways. Love, touch, and teaching are irreversibly entangled and celebrated.
Dive Deeper
Hear more from Prouvost in these selected interviews, where her personal philosophy and humour take centre stage.
Read
Laure Prouvost, 37: ‘I feel I have lived many lives’ | The Guardian
Laure Prouvost: interview | Fondazione Imago Mundi
Listen
Watch
Opening-Day Artist Talk: Laure Prouvost | Walker Art Center
Laure Prouvost: Oma-je is on view at Remai Modern from June 30, 2023 – January 28, 2024.
Remai Modern would like to acknowledge the contributions of the Frank & Ellen Remai Foundation and the Consulate General of France in Vancouver for supporting this exhibition.
About the Artist
Laure Prouvost was born in Lille, France (1978) and is currently based in Brussels. She received her BFA from Central St Martins, London in 2002 and studied towards her MFA at Goldsmiths College, London. She also took part in the LUX Associate Programme. Prouvost won the MaxMara Art Prize for Women in 2011 and was the recipient of the Turner Prize in 2013.
Recent solo exhibitions include: Above Front Tears Oui Float at the Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo, Norway (2022); Laure Prouvost: Theatergarden and A Be(a)stiary of the Anthropocene, Longlati Foundation, Shanghai, China (2022); Deep Travel Ink, Atelier Hermès, Seoul, South Korea (2022); The Long Waited, Weighted, Gathering, Manchester Jewish Museum, Manchester, UK; Our elastic arm hold in tight through the claouds at Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark (2021); Re-dit-en-un-in-learning CENTER at Lisson Gallery London (2020); Melting into one another ho hot chaud it heating dip, Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisbon, Portugal (2020); Deep See Blue Surrounding You / Vois Ce Bleu Profond Te Fondre, Les Abattoirs, Toulouse, France, LAM – Lille métropole, Villeneuve d’Ascq, France (2020), and Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht, Netherlands (2021); AM-BIG-YOU-US LEGSICON, M HKA – Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp, Belgium (2019); Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (2018); BASS Museum, Miami, FL, USA (2018); They Are Waiting for You, Performance for stage at the McGuire Theatre, Minneapolis, MN, USA (2018); SALT Galata, Istanbul, Turkey (2017); Kunstmuseum Luzern, Switzerland (2016); Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan, Italy (2016); Museum Für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt Am Main, Frankfurt, Germany (2016); Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing, China (2016); Haus Der Kunst, Munich, Germany (2015); New Museum, New York, NY, USA (2014); Laboratorio Arte Alameda, Mexico City, Mexico (2014); Max Mara Art Prize for Women, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK and Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia, Italy (2013); Laure Prouvost / Adam Chodzko as part of Schwitters in Britain, Tate Britain, London, UK (2013); The Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield, UK (2012); and Flat Time House, London, UK. Prouvost represented France at the 58th International Art Biennial Venice, May-November 2019 and was included in NIRIN, the 22nd Biennale of Sydney (2020). June 2019 saw the artist’s first public commission in the UK through Transport for London’s Art on the Underground.