Workshop: When coral bleaches

Each participant will be provided with a photograph of coral, created in advance by artist Raphaëlle Peia. Using engraving tools, adults will lift the surface of the photographic paper to simultaneously whiten the image and create a relief effect. In this way, the coral is revealed while also highlighting its potential disappearance due to global warming, which causes bleaching. Children, meanwhile, while work on the photographs using white paint to create patterns that accentuate the structure of their coral. The artist will be on hand to guide participants in the use of the tools. Each participant takes their artwork home.

Raphaëlle Peria

Raphaëlle Peria, a French artist born in 1989, lives and works in Paris, France. Her practice is rooted in a close observation of landscapes and their transformations, which she investigates through diverse geographical contexts, particularly in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Europe, within territories shaped by ecological, historical, and political issues. Using photographs taken during these immersive experiences, she has developed a distinctive scraping technique. Employing engraving and surgical tools, she intervenes directly on the image, meticulously lifting its surface to reveal the white of the support beneath—the colour of forgetting. This process brings forth reliefs and forms, revealing both the mutations of landscapes and the fragility of their ecosystems. In Raphaëlle Peria's work, images, nature, and personal as well as collective memories intertwine, transforming photography into a sensitive space suspended between disappearance and persistence. A finalist for the Emerige Revelations Grant in 2015, she presented her first solo exhibition, Marinus Asiaticus, at Galerie Papillon in 2017, which continues to represent her today. Her work has been exhibited in France and internationally, notably at the Bullukian Foundation in Lyon (2024), the Sungkok Art Museum in Seoul, and the French Institute in Madrid (2025). Her works are held in public and private collections in France and abroad, including the Mobilier National, the Neuflize OBC Foundation, and the Thalie Foundation. In 2025, she was awarded the BMW Art Makers Programme and presented her project Traversée du fragment manquant at Les Rencontres d'Arles, as well as at Paris Photo, curated by Fanny Robin. During her residency at the Casa de Velázquez (2025–2026), she is developing the project Ruina Montium and presents her first solo exhibition abroad at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid as part of the PhotoEspaña festival.

Instagram: Raphaëlle Peria