prune nourry installs cloud of 888 flying arrows inside le bon marché in paris

following ai weiwei, chiharu shiota, leandro erlich, joana vasconcelos and nendo, prune nourry is the latest artist to take over parisian department store le bon marché with the carte blanche exhibition ‘l’amazone érogène’. the french visual artist and sculptor has designed a monumental installation that draws from the greek myth of the amazons, the women who would cut off their right breast to become better archers. under the central glass canopies of the store, nourry has installed a cloud of 888 flying arrows and a gigantic, evocatively-shaped bow, all pointing to breast-shaped targets that are four meters in diameter.all images © the artist and le bon marché rive gauche

on view until february 21, 2021, ‘l’amazone érogène’ by prune nourry draws from greek mythology and plays with the characteristic symbols of the warrior: the target, the bow and arrows. at the same time, it also serves as a metaphor for breast cancer and the personal experience of the artist who went through it in recent years. nourry is selling the 888 arrows that make up this installation for charitable purposes. all of the income from their sale will fund the free distribution of her new book ‘aux amazones’ (‘for the amazons’) to women fighting cancer. for each arrow purchased, more than twenty contemporary amazons will receive this book, free of charge.

the heart of the exhibition can be found under the central glass canopies at le bon marché, rising 16 metres high. 888 arrows made from white wood and feathers fly through the air beneath the first glass canopy, creating a cloud pointing in the direction of the four-meter-wide breast target suspended in front of the legendary escalators at the department store. beneath the second glass canopy, an evocatively-shaped bow placed five meters high points towards a second target and serves as counterpart to the volley of arrows. like the target, the edge of the bow also recalls a cut breast, evocative of the amazon myth.

beyond the main installation in the glass canopies, nourry’s exhibition spreads throughout the rest of the store. in the display windows on rue de sèvres, a bow sends arrows (1.800 of them) flying towards a breast-shaped target. last, on the corner of rue du bac and rue de babylone, the ‘l’entrée sur l’art contemporain’ area provides a second introduction through the screening of a making-of film about the exhibition. in it, prune nourry talks about her influences and the background of the exhibition.

project info:

name: l’amazone érogène

artist: prune nourry

location: le bon marché rive gauche, paris, france