Exhibition Eldorado, Kunstraum, Brussels, 2025.
“This exhibition gathers five artists (Lucile Bertrand, Céline Cuvelier, Diego Herman, Charlotte Quinonero and Barthélémy Toguo) and explores the notion of Eldorado in a contemporary context, examining the hopes and challenges tied to migration, borders, and the promises of a better elsewhere.
“Lucile Bertrand employs a minimalist and refined language to express the violence of conflicts, the precariousness of migratory journeys, and the exploitation of natural and human resources. Her installations and drawings depict a fractured world of inequalities, while allowing a fragile, silent poetry to emerge.
“[...] Together, these artists sketch a subjective map of the modern Eldorado—between pursuit and disillusionment, exile and belonging, promise and defiance. Will the promised land be the one we have long imagined?”
Valentine Himpens-David,
excerpt from the press release, April 2025.
Touristic Route and
Survival Route, 2017.
Acrylic paint and felt pen on rescue blankets.
210 × 160 each. See details.
Méditerranée 2017, 2018.
Pencil, pen felt, ink and printed paper on Canson paper.
42 × 59 cm. See details.
Kunstraum, Exhibition view.
Photo Amélie Bataille
Touristic Route and Survival route.
Restitution of two women's journeys who one day had to leave their home and who managed to arrive somewhere else.
Photo Amélie Bataille
Touristic Route, detail.
In 2000, Lucie revisits all the places and countries she went through between
1938 — when she fled Austria at 12 years old with her family because they were Jewish —
and 1943 — when they found refuge in Switzerland.
Survival route, detail.
In 2014, Suyapa flees Honduras, crosses Guatemala and Mexico on foot and on the top of merchandise trains.
She arrives a month later in Texas (USA), after an extremely dangerous journey.
Photo Amélie Bataille
Photo Amélie Bataille
Photo Amélie Bataille
Drawing Méditerranée 2017
besides an artwork by Barthélémy Toguo.
Photo Amélie Bataille
Méditerranée 2017, detail.
Every year, a huge number of people die when attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea in very risky conditions.
Méditerranée 2017, detail.
Méditerranée 2017, detail.
The little tags show numbers of people who died at sea in 2017,
provided by organizations that do not use the same recension methodology or sources.
Dessin Méditerranée 2017
besides an artwork by Barthélémy Toguo and a painting by Diego Herman.
Photo Amélie Bataille