Benoît Piéron (b. Ivry-sur-Seine, 1983) was born with meningitis, and treated for leukaemia as a kid. In the 1970s and 1980s, 4,689 people with haemophilia and other bleeding disorders were infected with HIV and hepatitis viruses through the use of contaminated clotting factors – Piéron was one of these people, and whilst he did not become seropositive, his body became more political.
Four years ago, he returned to the hospital with a cancer. Upon reliving his childhood trauma, he realised that his works are intimately linked to his survival of HIV/AIDS. Through his practice, the guilt he experiences as one of a few survivors is transformed into something generative – a compostable energy that through practices of care and attention renews material detritus into forms that carry the voices, secretions and powers of others.
When his last cancer went into remission, he began assembling hospital-reformed sheets, with the help of a phenomenologist friend, materialised into toys, beach mats, flags, gymnastics ribbons, floor lamps and armchairs. The colours are softened by the intensive washing the sheets were subjected to. In spite of this hygienic treatment, "clean stains", the indelible traces of previous uses remain.
Piéron seeks to produce alternative expressions of the disease, instead exploring it as a site of potential. Far from the romantic heroism of the usual metaphors of illness, Piéron places himself in a grey and joyful zone. In a solo show entitled Illness Shower at Sultana Gallery, Piéron viewed the exhibition as a celebration of illness.

Recent solo show includes: 'Bandage', (galerie du Haïdouc à l’Antre Peaux,2022) Bourges, France; 'Illness Shower', (Sultana Summer Set, 2022)Arles, France; Deux Drapeaux, Une Belladone, (l’alcôve,2021) Paris ; PLAID, (Cité Internationale des Arts,2021), Paris; Seconde eau, soft walls, patch.E.S & soap, (Cité Internationale des Arts, 2021) Paris ;'[random]', (Tanneries,centre d’art contemporain, 2018), Amilly, France

Select group show includes : 'Paris +, by art Basel', 2022, Paris; 'C’était Mieux Avant', (Palais De Tokyo, 2022), Paris ;'Cottagecore', (Galerie Sultana, 2022) Paris; 'La Deuxième Première Fois Ft. Carla Adra', (La Galerie Noisy Le Sec, 2022); 'Horizones', Nominé Pour Le 23 Ème Prix De La Fondation Pernod Ricard, 2022), Paris; 'Formes Du Transfert', (Fondation Hermès, Magasins Généraux, 2022), Pantin; 'VIH/Sida L’épidémie N’est Pas Finie', (Mucem,2021), Marseille; FIAC, (Mendes Wood, 2021) Paris; 'Mort Is More', (Brasserie Atlas, 2021) Bruxelles; Qui Vive, Le Mat, (Ancenis, 2021); 'La Mort Comme Performance SM', (Mac Lyon, 2021); 'Plantagorie', (Cité Internationale Des Arts, 2021), Paris; 'Le Regard Du Temps', (Cultur Foundry, 2021), Paris; 'Condensation', (L’atelier, 2021), Séoul, Corée; 'Condensation', (Le Forum, 2021),Tokyo, Japon.

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