« A humanity that we need to carry, not as a burden, but as a shared hope. »
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This is a translation of a letter, Le Clezio (the Nobel Prize winner for Literature, 2008), wrote to Anne-Catherine in May 2016 shortly after she met him at the London Review of Books and after the March in Solidarity with Refugees against the policies of the then Home Secretary Theresa May.
Dear Anne-Catherine Le Deunff
Your words and your images touch me. I am from a family who knows migration. Our Ancestors fled the misery of Brittany during the Terror (he had been a Republican Soldier, who returned to civilian life, a young husband, with a young daughter. He had no other choice than to depart for India, nearly shipwrecked, ending up on the Isle of Maurice). During the War, I also was of a tender age, on the exodus south with my mother and elder brother. The German Officer who let us pass showed more humanity than those officials that block access for foreigners who are now fleeing war. That which you have written, the portraits, speak of this humanity that we need to carry, not as a burden, but as a shared hope. Elephant and Castle was a place where my father, a Mauricien citizen, made his medical studies. He told me that it was a place full of contradiction, where the best and the worst of London co-existed. This was our common ground. I hope that he gave me the reason to both be a writer and to live. Thank you.
Merci
J.M. Le Clezio
Anne-Catherine seems to have been able to defend others, fighting quietly and determinedly against the ignorance and callowness of the cold world. Bringing warmth and beauty to others in need, she demonstrated an extraordinarily acute sensibility for those suffering, hurting or damaged. And it was because she suffered long in her own way from torment and hurt that she exuded a natural empathy. Love, acts of simple love towards the other – without thought to their consequence or to the risks that she might be taking – formed the radical heart of her life. This gift of Snow on Snow – a beautiful set of etchings of refugee children – sparked in Le Clezio another response to the human crisis in Europe. You can view his thinking on the refugee crisis and Europe’s response – despicable/degueullase here – a view that mirrors his thinking in the letter quoted above, thoughts and sentiments sent in reply to Anne-Catherine’s appeal nearly 2 years earlier.
Obituary
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Art Education and Training:
- University of Roehampton
University of Roehampton
Master of Arts (MA)Art Therapy/Therapist
Camberwell College of Art (University of Arts London)
Master of Arts (MA) Fine Art Printmaking
1993-1995
- Arts de Paris
Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux arts de Paris
Diplomee (BA equivalent)Drawing – Atelier Senelar & Printmaking – Atelier Courtin
Ecole Regionale des Beaux Arts de Rennes
Certificat d’Initiation Plastique
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