Vagrezèn was born in the heart of the Valgrisenche as a textile artwork suspended between memory, territory, and care.
Inspired by the form of a quilt – an archetype of protection and warmth – the work amplifies its scale, transforming into a space that evokes both a cradle and a yurt: an intimate, welcoming, and communal environment. Created with reclaimed materials from the valley, Vagrezèn weaves together the ancient knowledge of the tisserands with the living matter of the mountain, transforming the memory of the place into a shared experience.

The interior is intimate and enveloping, lined with textile fragments in the natural tones of wool – cream, gray, and brown. Here, the material not only protects but tells a story. The fragments of Rosset wool – from an endangered native sheep breed – preserve the history of human-animal coexistence, and together with laser engravings, transform the surfaces into a collective archive. Emergent elements include Fornet, an abandoned village and memory of depopulation; a mule carrying drap, symbolizing the labor that crosses the valleys; a ball of wool, a metaphor for thread as language; the tacaleun, an ancient tool for spinning; and the signature of Sulpice Frassy, a peasant intellectual and guardian of textile knowledge.

At the center stands the Beauregard dam, a monument of hydroelectric modernity and a rupture that forever changed the valley’s fate. Engraved and hand-embroidered with naturally dyed threads from alpine plants – Gallium verum, Rumex alpinus, Vaccinium myrtillus, Verbascum thapsus – it becomes simultaneously a wound and an act of repair.

On the exterior, the biodegradable geotextile covering – the same material used to protect glaciers – recalls the albedo effect. On this surface, the names of the valley’s villages and engravings of alpine plants emerge, forming an identity map that intertwines human and vegetal memory.

Vagrezèn is a work that preserves what endures, transforming wounds and memory into a tapestry of history, landscape, and life, giving the valley a tangible presence of its past and the strength of its resilience.