Diambe (BR, 1993)
Residency period: May-July 2025
During my residency at La Becque, I began shaping the video installation Cire perdue (working title). In collaboration with local beekeepers, I composed a silent choreography for bees. First, I hand-molded the sculptures, then gently nestled them into the summer grass. These pieces, marked by both fragility and intention, also became ephemeral performers. The scene, recorded in video and sound, highlights the effects of heat and instinct, evoking the slow passage of time and the power of temperature.
Under the sun, the sculptures softened and collapsed into the earth, unfolding slowly while drawing in the instinctive chorus of the bees through their collective gestures. Their movements reveal a kind of intuitive communication, suggesting an interspecies language.
The working title refers to a sculptural technique used throughout history, but it also speaks here to lost cultures and species in an environmental sense—as I’ve been working by observing the behavior of a group of animals threatened with extinction, yet still closely connected to health and magic: notably bees.
For the Open Studios, I also presented egg tempera paintings—further extending the project’s exploration of the landscape’s temperamental textures. — Diambe
Based in São Paulo, Diambe is an artist who critically examines the behavioral structures of society and whose practice blends several mediums such as choreography, sculpture, painting, and textiles. Following their interrogations of their position as a racialized body in a context of environmental degradation, Diambe’s work is marked by living materials, including the recurrent use of African-South American food roots or egg tempera. Through paintings, sculptures, and choreographies, Diambe seeks to relate architectures and environments to spontaneous movements in plural elaborations.
Diambe holds a BA in Social Communication from Rio de Janeiro University (UFRJ) in fellowship with Université Sorbonne Nouvelle and obtained an MA in Performing Arts from UFRJ.
Diambe, La Becque, 2025, photo Matthieu Croizier
Diambe, La Becque, 2025, photo Aurélien Haslebacher
Diambe and Pascal Chollet, Ogens, 2025, photo Aurélien Haslebacher
Diambe, La Becque Open Studios, 2025, photo Aurélien Haslebacher