Bertille Bak

[artist profile]

Bertille Bak (Arras 1983) is a French artist based in Paris. She pursues a sociological and political, if not ethnological, perspective. Bak expresses an art of relationships aimed both at communities whose members are more or less aware of their identities, and at minorities often forgotten and neglected. During her numerous visits and long stays within the respective communities, Bak builds interpersonal relationships to raise awareness of the social utility of people and groups. Through the sharing of everyday life, of the study of the territory, the analysis of the social relationships, the culture, the traditions and of the economic organization, Bak takes on the role of a social provocateur putting herself forward as a critical conscience to raise political awareness among her interlocutors. The result is collective portraits with an unconventional twist, often based on the research of individual mythologies, in a determined attempt to preserve the traces of memory. It is not by chance that Bak worked at the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris as a student of Christian Boltanski.
Bertille Bak’s works are present in many public and private collections, including at Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection, FNAC – CNAP, FMAC Paris, FRAC Aquitaine, FRAC Alsace, FRAC Basse-Normandie, FRAC Limousin, FRAC Rhône-Alpes / Institut d’art contemporain Villeurbanne, FRAC Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur, Musée Nationale d’art moderne_ Centre Pompidou, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Musée d’art contemporain du Val de Marne_ Mac/Val, Musée des arts contemporains du Grand-Hornu, Collection Neuflize Vie ABN/ AMRO, Fondation Louis Vuitton pour la création, Artis, EMST National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, FMAC Genève (CH), Collection de la Ville de Vénissieux, Collection Frey_Grande Finale_Fréland

[selected works]