In mid-April 2023, it was announced that a new website about art environments had appeared in France, called Cartographie des Rocamberlus. Le cartographie des environnements d'art singulier (Cartography of the Rocamberlus. The mapping of singular art environments)
This website is the crowning achievement of Sonia Terhzaz's work over the past ten years. She visited dozens of art environments in France to have a conversation, if possible, with the creator of the site, this in order to learn more about the backgrounds and intentions of the one who created the site.
Many times her visit resulted in a conversation in which interviewees reflected candidly on their own insights and experiences, information that greatly benefits our knowledge of the field of art environments.
The above map (not operational here) shows the dozens of places, spread throughout France, where the sites visited by Sonia are located.
Sonia Terhzaz studied art at the Michel de Montaigne University in Bordeaux III, became a fine arts teacher, and worked at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Bordeaux before becoming the manager of a cultural café in Paris, where she arranges musical, cultural and sporting events.
The interest in outsider art, which she developed in Bordeaux, gave her the idea of making an inventory of art environments, but then through meetings with the makers in order to gain more insight into their backgrounds.
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| picture from Sonia's Facebook account |
In the photo above, Sonia is accompanied by Georges Maillard (1932-2022), creator of an art environment with creations of stacked stones, located in Osny, north-west of Paris. She met him in May 2020, was touched by his sweet and funny character and would often visit him until his death.
Maillard is the one who used the expression Rocamberlus to indicate his art environment.
Here is the link to the new site: Cartographie des Rocamberlus
Enjoy your visit !
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