Julia

Yves Lemarque’s work was commissioned by the City of Mulhouse in 2011. The sculpture is a reduction replica of the chimneys that made Mulhouse famous, formerly known as the city of a hundred chimneys. The work is also linked to the industrial past of the Nouveau Bassin district. The artist named his creation Julia. Through this first name, so common nowadays, he wants to create a link with the passer-by walking along the Nouveau Bassin. However, it is not the artist who has an acquaintance named Julia, but the spectator who might know someone with this name and thus through the sculpture recall memories, a story with a person named Julia. Putting a first name on the sculpture also helps to humanize the work, to give it an identity. Yves Lemarque has also pierced the sculpture with small holes that go all the way around. At eye level, these holes allow the spectator to look inside to give another perspective and a new relationship to the work.