Rebecca Clouâtre
Captured by François Mittins
Swimming in the Light
In this talk, Rebecca Clouâtre explores flow as both a state of movement and a way of being. The story unfolds through water, paper, childhood collections, creative pauses, and returns. Rather than moving in a straight line, the talk drifts between moments when energy appeared, disappeared, and slowly came back.
Rebecca begins by tracing early signs of curiosity and attention. Time spent near water. A love of tiny, intricate things. Paper, scrapbooks, and the quiet satisfaction of arranging objects just so. These early instincts resurface later through art history, curatorial work, and a deep sensitivity to visual detail.
After years of academic study and museum work, momentum stalls. Job loss brings stillness, doubt, and the arrival of “Jan”, a personified voice of depression that feeds on fear, inactivity, and self-criticism. Movement returns through a simple daily practice: one small paper collage a day. The scale is manageable. The commitment is steady. Slowly, energy shifts. Curiosity replaces fear. Flow returns.
The talk then moves into motherhood, where joy and overwhelm exist side by side. Rebecca reflects on how identity fractures and reforms under new expectations, and how societal ideas about motherhood shape that experience. Language becomes essential. Community becomes essential. Research, reading, and art once again offer perspective.
This layered journey leads to Maternal Collections, a major solo exhibition where Rebecca brings her full self into the work. Nature imagery, research, personal experience, and contradiction coexist. The work resists neat answers and allows multiple truths to live together.
Rebecca closes by returning to light, movement, and presence. A child dancing in the sun. A new studio. A reminder that flow is not perfection or constant productivity, but the willingness to keep moving, to notice what brings energy, and to swim toward it when it appears.
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