Camille Bleu-Valentin
Resident in 2026
Camille Bleu-Valentin is a multidisciplinary artist born in 1995 in Paris. She grew up in New Caledonia, a place where colonial memories are particularly strong, which has profoundly shaped her artistic thinking. She now lives and works in Nantes, a city historically tied to colonial trade, which reinforces this connection between her practice and history.
She studied at the Beaux-Arts, participated in an Erasmus exchange in Turkey and took part in training courses in Sarajevo on art in post-conflict contexts.
Camille Bleu-Valentin's work primarily explores colonial memory, conflicting identities and historical trauma.
To give physical form to this memory, she uses organic and symbolic materials: biotextiles made from milk, banana skins, pine resin, dried flowers, painting with coffee, etc. These materials evoke fragility and care, but also the invisible violence inherited from colonial policies.
Her research work is accompanied by a commitment to creating in peripheral or ‘sensitive’ areas, far from major cultural centres. This is also expressed in her mediation activities: she organises workshops for a variety of audiences (schools, migrants, people with disabilities, prisons, etc.).
Camille Bleu-Valentin will be the Te Whare Hēra artist in residence in Wellington from 15th February to 24th April 2026.
