C'est pas du luxe

In 2008 I organized, with the help of many talented people, the first contemporary art jewelery exhibition in New Caledonia. The title of the show was "C'est pas du luxe" and it took place at a great little gallery called Onze et Demi. The phrase "c'est pas du luxe" has two meanings. Literally it means - it is not a luxury. The second meaning is a play on words which means rather, it's a necessity. Example: C'est pas du luxe to buy new shoes if your old ones have holes in them. We used this term in two ways, first of all referencing the fact that in our jewelery exhibition many unconventional and non-precious materials where used, and secondly to put forward the idea that it was fine time that New Caledonia started thinking about contemporary art jewelery. We formed a group of eight artists from completely different backgrounds.

posted are a few examples of the work I did for this exhibition

Japanese river rocks and variations of...

Petroglyphes in the Pacific

Petroglyphes are stone carvings found all over the Pacific. In New Caledonia there are more than 350 sites, with more than 6000 motifs. The big island of New Caledonia is the island in the South West Pacific with the greatest number of carvings. The motifs are rather abstract, and sometimes styles are specific to certain sites. There is no instruction book or dictionary available to interpret them. Could they be like earth tattoos, to help remember family lines, important events, or social grades of certain tribes? Or maybe maps to define the separations between regions? These carvings are an extraordinary richness, hidden in the bushes, behind trees, in the hills all around New Caledonia, a gift from the past.

While living in the central area of NC, I discovered the incredible petroglyphes in the Montfaoué area. Overwhelmed by their beauty and mystery, I was inspired to make these silver pendants.