Le fil rouge by Julie Fournier

“Autumn is a beautiful season to be sick. That is what I told myself when I was diagnosed with stage III breast cancer in 2020. It was the time of COVID; everyone was wearing masks, and I was shielded from viruses… I was immunosuppressed for 126 days due to chemotherapy treatments administered in 21-day cycles. During this forced hiatus, I wondered how to transform the ordeal of cancer into a creative experience—a narrative viewed through the lens of metaphor.”

During this period, I wrote over 1,000 pages in my morning journal. I also collected more than 10,000 pieces of sea glass while walking on every day that I was able to do so. These accumulations—both literary and material—serve as the foundation for this body of work, which brings together sculptures, texts, and drawings.