Solène Kerlo

Solène Kerlo’s work is a quest for origins: it examines the relationship of modern humans to their roots and their mythological unconscious. Through her research, she delves into the myths of the world’s creation, their motifs, and their symbols, seeking to uncover the primordial and universal story that nurtured and shaped human civilization during the earliest stages of its consciousness.

Her art invites us to relive the time of origins: a time when we were still lulled by the song of symbols and the poetry of imagination, a time when the sacred manifested in every phenomenon of nature, an ancestral era that continues to inhabit our unconscious and our bodies.

The mythological soul resonates once more, and her works echo its presence. At the edge of abstraction, her paintings and sculptures invite deep meditation. Her latest series explores funerary rites and conceptions of death within mythologies.

“What perception did early humans have of their mortality? Did they think humanity was inherently mortal from the beginning? Did they believe in an existence beyond death? A year ago, I embarked on a journey to explore these fundamental questions that have captivated the human imagination since its origins and have shaped our perception of death to this day.

After examining the myth of Emergence and the primordial birth of humanity in my series Seed of Civilization, I wanted to explore, in this new series, the myth of the Fall and the arrival of mortality among humans. Many traditions attribute this finitude to the consumption—or non-consumption—of a sacred plant, one that is both mortal and immortal. Related to the Biblical narrative of the forbidden fruit, this ancestral motif has enriched the ontology of our species since the Paleolithic era.”

Portrait © Pauline Gouablin

Expositions

2025
Exposition personnelle, Porte B Gallery, Paris

Exposition collective, Traits d’esprit, Galerie Loft, Paris, France

Participation à la Nuit Blanche, en collaboration avec le Cœur d’homme de la Villette, Exposition: Arkae x Nuit Blanche, France

2024
Présences invisibles, exposition collective, Galerie Loft, Paris
Matières tangibles & récits invisibles, exposition collective, Porte B Gallery, Paris
«Im-mortal moon», fresque traditionnelle de 25m2, Aquitanis x Caisse des Dépots, Bordeaux
Fenêtre sur cours, exposition collective, Porte B Gallery, Paris

2023
Topographie de l’au-delà, Duo Show avec Margaux Desombre, restitution de recherches sur les pratiques rituelles Toraja, Twenty agency, Paris
Matières d’être, exposition collective, Larock-Granoff gallery, Paris
« Symbole / Symptôme » Solo Show, sous le commissariat de FCZA / Florence Cocozza, Poush, Clichy Matières Primaires, exposition collective, Porte B Gallery, Paris

2022
Don Papa Art Price, Group Show (peinture), Bastille design center, Paris
Galerie du Vivant, exposition collective, Modern Art Fair & Hum Magazine, Paris
Earth, exposition collective, Art House by Kalo Architecture, Paris
Metamorphoses, Mayfly Gallery, Paris

Résidences artistiques

2023-Aujourd’hui
Résidence Plateau Urbain x Aquitanis, caisse des Dépôts, Bordeaux

2025
Résidence de création d’oeuvres sculpturales en cire à fonte perdu, Atelier Derme – Koudougou; Burkina Faso

2024
Résidence de lithographie et édition du premier ouvrage de «The Ocher Cave», Casaplan – Valparaiso, Chili Résidence de création d’oeuvres sculpturales en cire à fonte perdu en collaboration avec le maitre fondeur burkinabé Alassan Derme, Doc – Paris Résidence de création d’un menu gastronomique en collaboration avec le chef Leo Georgis, L’Almanac, Paris

2022
Résidence artistique au sein de la communauté locale des Likan-antai, La Wayaka – Atacama desert, Chili

2020 – 2022
Résidence de deux ans au sein de l’incubateur d’artistes Poush, Clichy 2020 Projet de fresque d’une grotte de pêcheur du village de massa, près d’Agadir, Massa Residency – Maroc