Behind the artist name Foufounart, a part of mystery that she wants to keep. “I have plenty of lives on the side”, immediately attacks with a smile the sweet Marion, mother and employee in the cultural milieu of Lyon. Her “little secret garden” that she likes to cultivate in her free time, her passion is to “represent the female sex in the public space”. Create vulvas without complex. Without taboo. But always with great delicacy.
“I don’t work on eroticism,” explains the one who has never had any artistic training. Instead, Marion prefers to sublimate the female genitalia by diverting symbols, obsolete objects or old materials. Her vulvas – a “unique” piece made with clay and modeled by hand – are mostly covered with a bucolic pattern. They are then hung in the center of a porcelain plate, placed at the bottom of a vase, sometimes put under a bell jar or often surrounded by a baroque frame painted with gold leaf. The result is astonishing, captivating.
Create “a surprise effect”
The objective is to create a contrast, an “effect of surprise” in order to bring a different look, she continues. “In the distance, we see a work, we guess colors or small flowers. And when we approach, we discover that it is a vulva in relief”, describes the artist who wanted to “represent the female sex where we do not expect it. It’s something beautiful that we don’t have to hide. Today, it is still a taboo subject for many women, but there is no reason to be ashamed of it,” she argues.
Feminist but “not militant”, Marion proudly assumes her approach, that of “giving back to the female sex its place and its legitimacy”. Which is annoying sometimes. His first work, pasted in April 2021 in a square in Croix-Rousse – his “heart district” – was “massacred”, “destroyed with ferocity” after three days. Not enough to discourage the artist, however.
“The goal is not to shock”
“The goal is not to shock but to provoke questions about the way we perceive the female body,” she replies. In art, in society in general, the male gender is widely represented. On the other hand, it took until 2017 to see the clitoris appear in school textbooks. It’s pretty crazy when half the souls that populate this planet have one. Little girls know what a penis looks like faster than their own sex”.
Aged in her “early forties”, the Lyonnaise belongs to “this generation which discovered itself late”. “At home, the subject was particularly taboo. We didn’t talk about sexuality, I was never told about periods either. I didn’t know what it was, she says. I learned about it in the schoolyard through urban legends. »
Behind the artistic approach, the desire to educate and raise awareness. Invited to exhibit her latest creations at the street art festival Fresh paint, Marion was able to confront the public. Sometimes with a lot of humor. “A gentleman came to see me to congratulate me,” she recalls. He said to me: “How beautiful, but what does it represent?” I replied that it was a vulva, he was quite surprised and almost embarrassed,” she concludes, laughing.