Marguerite Humeau was born in 1986, in Cholet, France. She now lives and works in London. She received her MA from the Royal College of Art, London, in 2011.
Ranging from prehistory to imagined future worlds, Marguerite Humeau spans great distances in space and time in her pursuit of the mysteries of human existence. She breathes life into lost things, whether they be lifeforms that have become extinct or ideas that have disappeared from our mental landscapes. Filling gaps in knowledge with speculation and imagined scenarios, her aim is to create new mythologies for our contemporary era.
“All the worlds I am creating are based on real facts”, Humeau explains. “They are based on mysteries that I am trying to understand. I am extracting real things, and then expanding into “what if?” scenarios.
This process of enquiry draws on meticulous research, and past projects have enlisted the collaboration of experts including scientists, historians, anthropologists, paleontologists, explorers, linguists and engineers.
More recently Humeau’s attention has turned to sources of knowledge that may have been considered marginal: to foragers, keepers of oral history and local mythologies, in order to construct a more inclusive concept of knowledge.
Thinking about each installation as an ecosystem in which the artworks are active agents, Humeau orchestrates physical encounters, offering the viewer an experience that is both sublime and unsettling.
Humeau is repeatedly drawn to chart the crossing point between life and death.