MARIE ANTOINETTE 2025
Installation
Dress form, crinoline, grand pannier, fabric scraps, thread
Height: 170 cm
Circumference: 650 cm
Train: 730 x 280 cm
Künstlerhaus S11, Solothurn, 2025
Through the recreation of an opulent dress inspired by Vigée Le Brun’s 1785 portrait of the French queen, Marie Antoinette reflects on the entanglement of fashion, power, and historical transformation. The work parallels past and present forms of excess, contrasting the decadence of the ancien régime with the overconsumption of contemporary society.
Made from recycled textile scraps, the sculpture becomes a counter-fashion statement, dismantling the allure of luxury while highlighting its socio-political consequences. The artist intertwines this narrative with personal memory: her mother, also named Marie Antoinette, shares a fate symbolically aligned with the queen’s. Both figures embody transformation through loss. The work thus meditates on mortality, identity, and the cyclical nature of history, suggesting that every collapse harbours the potential for renewal.
Credits: © Patricia Jacomella Bonola