After a spell at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’art, Villa Arson, Charly Bechaimont obtained his DNSEP in 2022 at the Esad de Reims. The same year, he presented his first solo exhibition, entitled Mâchefers, at the Fecit art center in Val-de-Vesle.
His mainly autobiographical practice takes as its starting point his membership of the travelling community, but also his homosexuality, and the conditions under which these two identities cohabit or, on the contrary, repel each other. By invoking dirt, violence, the caravan and the figure of the clown, he articulates essentializing clichés, turning their meaning on their head and rendering their stigmatizing nature ineffective.
During his residency, Charly Bechaimont explores the notion of testimony already present in his practice. He focuses on his own community, that of travelers, and pays particular attention to the intersectionality of queer people from this same community. More generally, the condition of the minority within a minority drives his research throughout the residency. Through text, but also through other media, he aims to dissect the internal and external oppressions suffered by these people. This approach is in line with his already established practice, and aims to shed light on life paths at the margins of society, or even on the bangs of society.
Performance
Quelques réflexions politiques personnelles (based on a text by Adrian Piper), 2024, performance, staples on plywood, as part of the group exhibition Salve
>Friday, May 31, 7:00 pm, Saturday, June 1, 5:00 pm and Sunday, June 2, 4:30 pm
