Autotomy (Crab claw)

Autotomy, a surprising word discovered during this project. While I had rented a small gallery in Portes en Ré, on the island of Ré, during the summer season of 2023, I used to walk by the sea every day during my midday break. I noticed each time an unusual number of prince crab washed up on the shore in the middle of algae discarded by the previous tide. Some more original than others, attracted my eyes. One of them, in warmer colors, was covered with small picotis, like small armored points of protection. Observing it in detail, I wondered why so many crabs lost their claws. Some research led me to discover the autotomy. It is the spontaneous mutilation that some animals practice, to escape a danger, they abandon part of themselves. Crabs, such as lizards, may reflexively detach a paw or claw to escape and save their lives. It will grow again at the next moult. Symbolically, just as the crab grows in its shell and then moults to get rid of it, this prepares us to enter a cycle of spiritual, mental or physical purification that will lead to a complete renewal in one area or another of our life. There was a source of anthropomorphic inspiration that totally echoed with my life and wounds. I felt the opportunity to express pictorially a letting go. During some evenings more quiet, looking for an energy of staging better than the other, I began to sketch charcoal, some studies on the model.
All of us in life need to turn pages to accept forgiveness or forgetting, in order to open up others, bigger, more beautiful. The abandonment of a part of oneself is undoubtedly painful but sometimes a necessary airlock to find behind a new light better suited, a more warm and loving harmony.