In the Salon space, the gallery presents a group of works by the artist Alison Flora, who paints with her own blood, drawn intravenously—a “soul-blood” closer to her spirit than menstrual blood. In doing so, she exorcises her fears, obsessions, and states of mind through surreal images, in which she reinvents symbols shared by the collective consciousness.
Living and working in Toulouse, Alison Flora draws significant inspiration from the wider Occitanie region, particularly from the folklore, myths, and legends that shape its history and are passed down from one generation to the next.
Exploring the simulacrum of violence, resistance, and the act of magic, blood painting reveals what is conveyed in the maxim memento mori—remember that you will die. Blood is intrinsically ambivalent. It has played, and continues to play, a fundamental role in all civilizations. Blood both stains and purifies; it is masculine and feminine, ceremonial or ominous, beneficial or dangerous—and shedding it can be either a crime or a sacred act.
Blood carries an instinctive emotional force. In this sense, painting with human blood—and above all with one’s own—creates an intense sense of proximity within the very act of painting.