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

Solo and group exhibitions

2025

Solo exhibition, Galerie Porte B, Paris, France

Group exhibition, Spiritual Lines, Galerie Loft, Paris, France

Participation in Nuit Blanche, in collaboration with Le Cœur d’homme de la Villette,  exhibition: Arkae x Nuit Blanche

Short film projection “Salar”, Short film and performance produced with the support of the Institute Française in Chile, with official release scheduled for Fall 2025.

2024

Invisible Presence, Group exhibition, Galerie Loft, Paris

Matières tangibles & récits invisibles, Group exhibition, Porte B Gallery, Paris

Im-mortal Moon, 25 m² traditional mural, collaboration with Aquitanis and Caisse des Dépôts, Bordeaux, France

Fenêtre sur cours, Group exhibition, Porte B Gallery, Paris

2023

Topographie de l’au-delà, duo show with Margaux Desombre, research presentation on Toraja ritual practices, Twenty Agency, Paris

Matières d’être, group exhibition, Larock-Granoff Gallery

Symbole / Symptôme, solo show curated by Florence Cocozza (FCZA), POUSH, Clichy

Matières Primaires, group exhibition, Porte B Gallery

2022

Don Papa Art Prize, group show (painting), Bastille Design Center

Galerie du Vivant, group exhibition, Modern Art Fair & Hum Magazine, Paris

Earth, group exhibition, Art House by Kalo Architecture, Paris

Metamorphoses, Mayfly Gallery

Artistic residencies

2023-Aujourd’hui

Residency with Plateau Urbain x Aquitanis, supported by Caisse des Dépôts, Bordeaux, France

2025

Sculpture residency (lost-wax casting), Atelier Derme, Koudougou, Burkina Faso

2024

Lithography residency and publication of the first edition of The Ocher Cave, Casaplan, Valparaíso, Chile

Sculpture residency (lost-wax casting) in collaboration with master founder Alassan Derme, DOC!, Paris

Culinary creation residency in collaboration with chef Leo Georgis, L’Almanac

2022

Residency within the Likan-Antai community, La Wayaka, Atacama Desert, Chile

2020 – 2022

Two-year residency at POUSH, Clichy, France

2020

Mural project in a fisherman’s cave in Massa village (near Agadir), Massa Residency, Morocco