INÈS DI FOLCO JEMNI
@inesdifolcojemni
Introducing Volume 10 of Cou Cou Talks: Inès di Folco Jemni on Maya Angelou’s Letter to my Daughter.
Q&A
WHERE DO YOU LIVE?
I’m in Paris; that’s where I was born and where I live.
WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON AT THE MOMENT?
My next solo show at Galerie Crèvecœur. It opens on February 15th until March 29th at 5 & 7 Rue de Beaune in Paris.
A RECENT MEMORY I TREASURE IS
The sun on my face last Sunday at Place Saint Sulpice, the boy next to me, and the mousse au chocolat from Chapon. A perfect match!
Q&A continued
WHAT'S A CONVERSATION THAT RECENTLY IMPACTED YOU?
My dear friend Sequoia Scavullo came to my studio and we talked about women - our favorite topic, I guess? She’s a blessing. I love her paintings, I love everything about her. We talked about how we wanted to go and ride horses together; how much we loved David Lynch; we talked about blue roses. Oh, and the music was always exactly according to our conversation: we talked about rain, and there was a storm in the song on the radio! Sequoia is magic.
WHAT ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT?
Mystery. The endless mystery of life. And how culture and ideas appear in so many different parts of the world, as if humans were hit by the same invisible wave.
WHAT DO YOU LOVE?
I love tenderness. It’s my religion. Romance with everybody, we have to soften our voices: “How are you, my dear?” To talk softly and nicely. Caress life and people.
“Everything in the world began with a yes. One molecule said yes to another molecule & life was born.”
– Clarice Lispector
Q&A continued
WHAT THOUGHTS CURRENTLY OCCUPY YOUR MIND?
How to paint a dream? A prayer? How to express a vivid inner life?
WHAT'S SOMETHING YOU STRUGGLE WITH?
My body! I want to be a good woman, a loving woman, but I still have a lot of work to do to accept myself.
HAPPINESS IS
Lazy Sundays with people you love, a good conversation on the phone where your ear starts to burn a little bit, the feeling of harmony when you eat dinner after swimming in the sea.
READ
WHAT'S A PIECE THAT HAS IMPACTED YOU OR CHANGED YOUR PERSPECTIVE?
Letter to my Daughter, Maya Angelou.
WHAT WAS IT ABOUT THIS PIECE THAT HAD SUCH A PROFOUND IMPACT ON YOU?
I have been reading and re-reading this book: she really changed my perspective on so many topics because every time I open it, there’s a new aspect of the book that hits me. When I first read it, I had the feeling that she was taking me to dinner. And now there’s that same feeling of a dinner table, but I pay attention to other chapters of her life that I didn’t before. The book evolves with me!
WHY DO YOU THINK WE SHOULD ALL READ THIS BOOK?
We should all have the luck to have dinner with Maya Angelou: she was an absolute beauty, a very fine spirit! This book gives you this feeling - go and read it!
WATCH & LISTEN
WHAT ARE THREE FILMS THAT YOU HOLD CLOSE TO YOUR HEART?
Les Demoiselles de Rochefort; the first movie I saw as a child that I wanted to be in, give up my life, and jump right inside.
The Passenger; for its absolute freedom and the magical Maria Schneider.
Une Femme est une Femme; my teenage years are shown in this movie.
FAVORITE FILM OF ALL TIME?
Love Streams by John Casavettes
FAVORITE ALBUM?
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
SEE
DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT THE FIRST PIECE OF ART THAT IMPACTED YOU DEEPLY WAS? WHAT WAS IT AND WHY?
The Sun by Edvard Munch. And the big Rauschenberg exhibition in the Centre Pompidou. The freedom I can perceive in an artist’s gesture is always a blessing: you see it, and you remember that free expression is the best therapy.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS FOR ME IS...
The best aspect of art. Our ideas are like seeds, traveling in our brains and bodies. They grow, they fade away - it’s fascinating.
