Grassy goodness from Mathilde Roussel's thought-provoking sculptures

Date
14 November 2012

We’ve all heard the phrases “you are what you eat” or “a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips” which unconsciously barge into our thoughts seconds before we bite into a second helping of delicious guilt drizzled cake. With this in mind it’s far too tempting when speaking about Paris-based artist Mathilde Roussel to say we’re hungry for more. Limping cliches aside, the politics and importance of food to our existence is central throughout Roussel’s Lives of Grass. Her living grass sculptures marry recycled materials with soil and seed to create a living representation of life, growth, and inevitably decay.

“These sculptures” says Mathilde, “strive to show that food, its origin, its transport, has an impact on us beyond its taste.” It appears that by observing nature unfold before our eyes, we are led towards an awareness of how we all are connected to the world’s food cycles. Mathilde continues that this enables us to better understand issues of abundance, of famine – and “allows us to be physically, intellectually and spiritually connected to a global reality.” Living Grass certainly offers up more than an explosion of flavour providing some nourishing food for thought.

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Mathilde Roussel: Lives of Grass

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Mathilde Roussel: Lives of Grass

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Mathilde Roussel: Lives of Grass

Above

Mathilde Roussel: Lives of Grass

Above

Mathilde Roussel: Lives of Grass

Above

Mathilde Roussel: Lives of Grass

Above

Mathilde Roussel: Lives of Grass

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Mathilde Roussel: Lives of Grass

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About the Author

Ross Bryant

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