French film-maker Alice Diop is launching her debut installation, titled Geste de Consolation (Gesture of Consolation), in the 60-meter central hall of the Palais d'Iena in Paris. The project brings together work by artists, writers, composers and poets.
Diop, known for her documentaries Nous (We) and Vers La Tendresse (Towards Tenderness), made her feature film debut with Saint Omer in 2022. The courtroom drama won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Inspired by a real trial Diop attended, the film follows a Senegalese woman accused of allowing her baby to drown in the sea. Over two hours, it examines race, culture and motherhood in contemporary France. Saint Omer became the first film by a Black female director to be France's official entry for the 2023 Academy Awards.
In an interview, Diop described her installation as an effort to bring together women whose work nourishes her. The scale of the Palais d'Iena space and the multi-disciplinary nature of the project mark a significant expansion of her practice beyond documentary and narrative film into curatorial and spatial work.