Art of Change 21 – What’s new with you?  
Suzanne Husky – There’s plenty! I’m going to work with Beaux-Arts de Montpellier art school and study for a Master’s in food and biodiversity, focusing on permaculture and ecofeminism. I’m taking action locally through an agricultural programme, standing for the next municipal elections, in my village of Bazas in South Gironde. My slogan is “Care for the earth, Care for the future”. Without forgetting my ongoing group exhibitions, for example in France, Narcissus or the flowering of worlds at Frac Nouvelle-Aquitaine or Champs Libres at the Maif Social Club in Paris.

AOC21 – How did ecology become a theme for you?
S.H. – Very early on. My American father was very anti-hunting and by the age of 15 I was already a vegetarian. After studying art and a year spent in Shanghai with its severe pollution, I decided to study horticultural landscaping. This was the beginning of long and continuous training, both in France and the United States, in permaculture, soil regeneration, and herbalism, all of which permeates my artistic work. Through my historical research on representations of the landscape, I understood that the domination of nature and women are two parallels, which also led me to ecofeminism, and politics. I am developing the artistic project New Ministry of Agriculture with the artist Stéphanie Sagot in order to denounce current agricultural policies.

AOC21 – What about your next project(s)?
S.H. – I will be part of the collective exhibition The Penumbral Age: art in the time of Planetary Change, running from 20 March at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw. I am also thinking about a piece on biodiversity for the next Anglet-Côte Basque International Contemporary Art Biennial (La Littorale). I have also just received a grant to do mythological and scientific research on plants, with the environmentalist activist Starhawk. Furthermore, if our team is successful in the municipal elections, we’ll have a whole local food system to set up!

Photo: Courtesy of the artist

More information about Suzanne Husky, here

Interview conducted by Alice Audouin.

Find all the articles from Impact Art News n°16 — February 2020