Caran d'Ache exhibits the work of two HEAD - Geneva alumnae: Ophélie Couelle, Bachelor of Fine Arts,Option Representation 2023 and Aliona Pribytkova, Bachelor of Illustration, 2023 present Une lumière qui nous traverse, the fruit of the creative process of their two-week residency.

Une lumière qui nous traverse celebrates light as a powerful symbol of hope, introspection and transformation. A subtle interplay of shapes, transparency, shadows and reflections explores how light cuts through landscapes, or how it captures the inner radiance of beings, revealing both their vulnerabilities and their strengths. This immersive exhibition invites visitors to plunge into a sensory universe where light becomes both a passageway and a metaphor for the connection between visible and invisible worlds.
The drawings, created with Neocolor™ II Aquarelle, Luminance 6901™ and Museum Aquarelle pencils, transport us into the worlds of the two artists. While Ophélie Couelle aspires the viewer to experience a sensory world where everything is interdependent, conscious, alive and intertwined, Aliona Pribytkova transports us to a universe where stars are rare, telling the story of a collector obsessed with their brilliance and beauty.
 

Ophélie Couelle
Ophélie Couelle aspires the viewer to experience a sensory world where everything is interdependent, conscious, alive and intertwined. Her drawings, watercolors and paintings often depict floating imaginary worlds, ethereal images, beyond the appearances of the physical world that bring a sense of reverie. Her works are similar to formulas or magic spells, with self-contained arrangements of pigments, lines of space and movement. Ophelie Couelle likes to create hybrid forms, between plant and animal shapes.
“I give my forms, my hybrid entities, angelic and luminous auras, a way of fighting against oblivion and remembering that light crosses us at every moment”.
 

Aliona Pribytkova
Aliona Pribytkova transports us to a world where stars are rare, telling the story of a collector obsessed with their brilliance and beauty. Every night, this young girl captures a star, carefully adding it to her precious collection. Preserved in glass jars, these stars illuminate her existence with a soft, comforting light. Faced with the prospect of a darkening world, the desperate collector sets off in search of a new star that can shine for eternity. At the end of this journey, she discovers a different star that doesn't twinkle in the sky, but emanates from her own heart. She realized that the light she had been searching for on the outside had always been within her. Embracing this new inner star, she illuminates her world anew, not with captured treasures, but with the power of her own inexhaustible light.

The Caran d'Ache + HEAD prize
The Geneva-based company is keen to support emerging talent, which is why it has awarded a prize to a student in HEAD's Visual Communication and Fine Arts programs every year since 2011.  Since 2022, Caran d'Ache has offered the winner and two finalists a residency in its Espace Créatif at Plateforme 10, Lausanne.