Water and Femininity have always been linked. An evidence in most religions and cultures. The Sumerian goddess Inanna, goddess of fertility and sexuality, holds a vase in place of her heart, continuously pouring water as a pledge for an eternal spring.
The Egyptians believed that the annual Nile floodings were the tears of Isis, goddess of motherhood, magic and fertility, crying over her dead husband.
Anashita, the Persian Goddess, embodied the liquid from the stars to fertilize the earth and in Genesis, as God divides the water, the masculine becomes vapour and the feminine becomes the rivers and lakes. But water is also humility. Water always reaches for the lowest point and conforms to the natural contours of the Earth. It tends to drop rather than rise. It doesn’t assert itself and yet it is so powerful, often invincible. It is the very symbol of power reached through softness. Could women of today find in themselves this force of standing out softly? Is it necessary to get lost using masculine instruments? For that a woman must be whole.
Once more, through this exhibition I seek to reconcile “the mother and the whore”. This time by speaking about water.
Photos of details gleaned in the region of Arles – Aix-en-Provence speak of female sexuality: in the beautiful courtyard next to the Galerie Huit Arles kitchen, the photos installed on the left side seem to be anchored, rooted, objects seemingly made of flesh and blood, sensuality of the fertile ground... on the right side, like a mirror: the transparency of the water symbolises the virgin. The photographs are printed on silk panels, then embroidered and presented as laundry hanging on a rope.
Water that usually stagnates when contained is here circled with silver threads and pearls. Blood on the contrary, symbolised by red threads, dies if it is spread. Here, it wants to escape the frame.
Both archetypes blend, impregnate each other and unite. They regain their power. 

Text : courtesy Anne Mourier