Pascal Monteil

For its first exhibition in Paris, the mahJ is presenting six of his most important embroideries as part of the collections. In Llanto por la Monja Gitana (Lamentation for the Gypsy Nun), the artist has embroidered a long procession of exiles on a canvas more than three metres long, in which he evokes the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, incorporating figures from his personal pantheon such as Federico García Lorca and Marceline Loridan-Ivens. Pascal Monteil's Marrano origins are no doubt a factor in his choice of this epic fresco, in which a rabbi carrying the Torah leads the procession.

For his latest work, specially conceived for the mahJ, the artist was inspired by the story of writer Aharon Appelfeld's hidden childhood and the rescue of  close to 60,000 Jews from Lithuania thanks to transit visas issued in Kaunas in 1940 by Japanese consul Chiune Sugihara. This little-known story enabled him to imagine an epic journey through the forests of the Soviet Union to Vladivostok and then Shanghai.

Born between Uzès and Anduze, Pascal Monteil now lives and works in Arles. He is the 2022 winner of the Maratier Prize, created by Claire Maratier to reward a living artist and awarded by the Pro mahJ foundation.

Curator: Pascale Samuel, curator at the mahJ
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