Marilou Changnaud is a visual artist based in York. Her practice is rooted in minimalism and geometric abstraction, spanning printmaking, sculpture, and site-responsive installation. Using repetition, pattern, and soft materials, she creates works that invite quiet reflection on perception, form, and movement. Her recent works have pushed the boundaries of paper, exploring its sculptural potential through folding, stacking, and hanging.
During her ten-month residency, Marilou developed a new body of work exploring the movement of air in the Northumberland landscape. Her research centred on the poetic and tangible manifestations of wind—its direction, rhythm, and presence.
As she described:
“What is air? It is invisible but its motion can be felt through all the pores of our skin. The force of the wind can be made visible by an inflated sail or floating clouds. It can evoke movement, direction, breath, and impermanence. During my residency, I researched and developed new material to choreograph the movement of air in the Northumberland region. I was interested in finding poetic ways to reveal the substance and motion of wind through a new body of sculptural works, exploring concepts of elusiveness, intangibility, and interconnectivity in relation to the surrounding environment.”
Throughout the residency, Marilou engaged with the local community through workshops and collaborative projects. She hosted a ‘Meet the Artist’ event in October and a paper-folding workshop for adults at Highgreen in November. In December, she led a card-making workshop with Gateway into the Community for young adults with learning disabilities.
In early 2023, Marilou worked with pupils from Greenhaugh Primary School on a flag-making project inspired by maritime signalling. The children designed and coded their own visual messages, which Marilou later printed onto colourful ripstop fabric banners for permanent display at the school. In March, she also collaborated with six Fine Art students from Newcastle University on a performance piece staged on the nearby fells.
Her final exhibition, Mapping Air, opened in June 2023 and featured large-scale installations across the barns at Highgreen, a video work documenting the fell performance with soundscape by Baptiste Brossard, a collection of gouache paintings, and a silk scarf edition. The exhibition included two improvisational dance performances by Poppy Ismae, further animating the invisible movement of air that inspired the work.
