Artist in Residence: Xenia Laffely
During this residency, I am exploring narratives around the idea of failure. My research is evolving around 3 main focus : Exile·home·domestic space / Aging·being late / Intimacy·desire·lesbianism. My idea is to explore the tension between positivist injunctions and the idea of stagnation, retreat, transgression and impurity through the creation of big scale textile pieces.
Born in Switzerland, lives and works between Lausanne and Montréal. Xénia Lucie Laffely has a background in fashion design (HEAD-Genève), french literature, art history (UNIL-Lausanne) and feminist studies (UQAM- Montreal).
In 2022, she was awarded by the visual art grant of the Canton de Vaud. She has been shortlisted for the Swiss Art Awards 2020 (cancelled edition due of Covid), awarded by the Swiss Design Awards (2018), the Leenaards Cultural Grants (2014) and the Hans Wilsdorf Award of Excellence (2012). She recently had solo and duo shows at Kunstraum Niederosterreich, Vienna ; Valentin 61, Lausanne ; Casa Bianca, Montréal ; Last Tango, Zurich ; Ferme de la chapelle, Geneva. She has participated in group exhibitions at Rad Hourani Gallery, Montréal ; Mayten’s, Toronto ; Plain Gallery, Milano ; Fondation du Doute, Blois ; Centre National d’Art Graphique Le Signe, Chaumont.
Xénia Laffely’s practice combines the traditional language of textile work with the contemporary aesthetic of digital photoshoped painting, creating hybrid pieces that questions hierarchies between art, design and crafts. She creates a lively sentimental reappropriation of issues related to domestic space, intimacy, queer love and self-fiction.