Servane Gis

In my work, I like to tell myself stories.

I write, translate and construct the remnants of a memory, staging its inhabitants.

Within it, there are two stages ; the research, composition and classification of a collection of vernacular family photographic archives and then the extraction of certain images as a corpus for reflection and visual motifs for the creation of pieces.

Do images allow us to remember ? If there is no image to remember, must we invent one in order to construct ourselves, write our own family history ? These questions form the basis of my reflection around the notions of inheritance, transmission, family, sisterhood, loss and mourning. Between drawing, printmaking, installation and literature, I explore how to create a personal identity through a family identity that is sometimes opaque because of what remains unsaid, anchoring myself in childhood, memory, nostalgia and wonder. The pieces I create watch over these tender moments that fade, fragment and become fragile revealing one part but allowing the whole to escape us.

« The carriage gate slams.

I turn the key and close it for the last time.

The signing of the deed of sale is in an hour.

It does not seem real.

Everything this house has been for us, will soon slip away from us.

To begin again with other people.

All the mysteries it has carried, inscribed in its walls, will remain with it. »

Excerpt from the final-year thesis, Who’s Going to See Grandma Tomorrow ?, written, printed and archived in 2025