Cécile Raynal at the Arts et Métiers museum

Between February and September 2017, Cécile Raynal completed an art residency on the territories of the CNAM and the reserves of the Arts et Métiers museum in the city of Saint Denis, near Paris. During her submersion she collected accounts from the museum staff, apprentices and metrology students.  

These encounters prompted a series of sculptures: portraits and figurines in clay revolving around the objects or souvenirs brought to mind. In this sanctuary of national conservation, souvenirs prevailed as the main thread. Each encounter during her residency is recorded in her works.  

These are the works which will be on show during the Petites histories en reserve exhibition, at the Arts et Métiers museum in Paris from 29 May to 27 August 2018.  

This event coincides with the publication of the book Mémoires de braise (Privat Editions) which goes back over the last ten atypical years of this artist. Cécile Raynal's work is divided between her studio and the singular communities in which she lives and works cutting herself off from the outside world: a prison, a retirement home, a hospital, a cargo freighter… Her work as a sculptor feeds off these submersions and encounters.