WTCHMLTTD
Photos 1+2: WTCHMLTTD by Lucile Gracile, Photo 3+4: Works by Climent Olm
Residency at Entorns
Created in situ during my residency at Entorns (Spain), WTCHMLTTD is a portal inviting the awakening of the witch within each of us.
This project is, above all, a personal reflection—as a woman, a creative, and an independent being.
A self-taught artist, my second professional identity is that of a midwife. In this field, I have always questioned my relationship with care in a broadly patriarchal society, where medicine often leaves little room for the subconscious in the treatment of illness. In both my approach to care and to life in general, I see body and mind as inseparable. The tension between my personal beliefs and the rational teachings of medicine has been a constant source of reflection—one that eventually led to my artistic practice, as a way of creating a personal space more aligned with my inner self.
Photos taken in Rocaviva
Witches, Midwives & Nurses
In my preliminary research, the feminist pamphlet Witches, Midwives & Nurses by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English (1973) became a bridge—between women caregivers, empirical approaches, female communities, and witchcraft. It was also a major source of inspiration in rehabilitating the image of the witch, for I feel that in the time of the Inquisition, I would likely have been one of those sent to the stake.
My encounter with the residency added yet another layer of meaning. On site, I discovered a desire to create an art space in a rural setting, where artistic practices are rare, and one that has adapted to this context by becoming a point of gathering—particularly through women’s circles organized there by Maragda for local villagers, alongside the international artistic residencies.
How to bring together all these symbols of women’s empowerment?
A mural overlooking the gathering place of these women seemed the obvious answer.
Like an invitation to come together, to invent one’s own rituals, to experience sisterhood, and to carve out a personal path—outside the confines of society.
A space in which to shape one’s own reality.
My intention was to bring my own approach, influenced by symbolic and figurative beliefs, while keeping harmony with the surrounding landscape, its old buildings, and unpaved streets.
The outstretched hand holding an apple—an invitation to join the circle—is a nod to our first images of the witch in children’s tales.
Other symbols, drawn from ancestral myths, invite introspection into one’s femininity, beliefs, and emotions.
The portal has two sides: day and night it does not reveal the same image, echoing the duality of perception we all experience between conscious and subconscious.
WTCHMLTTD by Lucile Gracile
About the artist
Lucile Gracile, lives and works in Paris.
Ceramic artist, her work is based on the combination of primitive and universal forms to create designs that carrying dreamlike symbolism. For her, our society tends to confine dreams and creative expression to childhood, values becoming derisory in adulthood, to the detriment of efficiency and productivity.
Through her sculptural objects, she seeks to let her inner child and her utopias express themselves. Everyone can see personal meanings, thus reconnecting with their past imagination. Her artistic universe is nourished by ancient mythologies and by humanity’s timeless fascination with the unreality of life and death.
Links: lucile_gracile