Artistic Residency & Exhibition By Zoé Vayssières
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Discover the captivating world of art and memory through the eyes of Zoé Vayssières during her two-week artistic residency in Malaysia. Her exhibition Les Éclipsées reveals 100 names of women from the past 43 centuries — free women, adventurers, poets, authors, composers, scientists, doctors, artists, photographers, activists, and local women — bringing their forgotten stories to life through her art.
Drawing on Malaysia’s archives, Zoé’s work focuses on uncovering the names of these overlooked women. As a proponent of narrative art, she uses a minimalist approach that interacts with the site, exploring themes of disappearance, remaining traces, and the passing of time.
Tun Kudu (15th century, Melaka)
Divorced by Sultan Muzaffar Shah and married to the Bendahara, enabling her family to consolidate power. Her son, Tun Mutahir, later became Prime Minister.
Cik Siti Wan Kembang (17th century, Kelantan)
A legendary warrior queen who fought on horseback and ruled Kelantan. She never married and later abdicated in favor of her adopted daughter, Puteri Saadong.
Datu Menteri Babu (19th century, Sabah)
Took over as community leader in 1884, played a key role in tribal wars, and was appointed native chief by the British.
Exhibition Opening Hours
Exhibition Launch
Stay tuned for exciting details about a special performance featuring the artist and a talented group of students — you won't want to miss it!
About the Artist
Traces, imprints, and memory are Zoé Vayssières’ inspiration. She is a French artist and graduate of ENSAD (The National
Superior School of Decorative Arts, Paris). After working as Art Director in the world of art and fashion for 15 years, she moved to
Shanghai. In China, she developed her work as a sculptor and honed her bronze techniques. She casted fleeting and endangered objects in
bronze to make them timeless. Trained in Art and Typography, her inspiration also lies in words, quotations and forgotten names, which she
engraves upon bronze. She combines embedded text and objects to question the selections and distortions that our collective memory makes.
Zoé’s profile has been raised thanks to some public and large-scale commissions, notably at the Jing’an International Sculpture
Park (Shanghai, China 2018), where she is the only Western woman featured alongside artists such as Arman and Wim Delvoye. In France, the
artist was part of Parcours St Germain with an outdoor sculpture ‘Plis de la mémoire’ exhibited at Quai Malaquais (Paris); this
work is now permanently installed at the Domaine de Chaumont (2021). Focusing on the theme of ‘The Eclipsed,’ which reveals the
names of forgotten women, the artist developed performances at venues like the Centre Pompidou or MAM, as well as sculptures, including a
recent state commission from the city of Châtenay-Malabry. In 2024/25, she is invited as Executive Fellow by Harvard University (Boston,
USA) to further her research on memory in partnership with one of the world’s most advanced AI dataLabs, the D^3 Institute.
For more information : www.zoevayssieres.art