Degrés Est: Anaïs Marion

Show & Culture

Anaïs Marion is invited to present her work in the Degrés Est space, dedicated to artists connected to the Grand Est, on the initiative of Fanny Gonella, director of Frac Lorraine. Born in 1992 in Metz and trained at the École européenne supérieure de l'image (EÉSÏ) in Poitiers, Anaïs Marion lives and works between Creuse and Moselle. In 2018, she retraced the route of the Baghdadbahn, a railway line between Berlin and Baghdad. This network, started at the end of the 19th century by Germany and completed by the British at the start of the 20th century in a context of imperial expansion, was meant to transport Mesopotamian archaeological treasures to Europe. Through this journey, Anaïs Marion embarks on an investigation at the crossroads of history, geopolitics, and the memory of displaced objects. Carrying a miniature reproduction of a Mesopotamian winged bull from the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, she symbolically seeks to return it to its land of origin. In 2025, she finally reaches Baghdad. The artist develops a research-based practice where observation, collection, and displacement become ways to write alternative histories. Her works, situated between photography, writing, and protocol, combine archaeological methodology with the poetry of inventories to explore collective memory, the circulation of knowledge, and the impact of heritage displacement.