Between documentary, video installation and photography, Valentine Sbriglio explores collective dynamics, the relationship between bodies and space, and the way in which a social struggle leaves an emotional imprint, even after it has run out of steam.

A path between cinema and social commitment

It was through music that Valentine experienced her first relationship with art. She played the clarinet, but felt limited by technical constraints, preferring interpretation and expression to the demands of instrumental mastery. Her attraction to narrative and image led her to cinema, which she first studied in France from a production and audiovisual angle.

Can you tell us about your artistic career?
“My first contact with an artistic discipline was music. I played the clarinet, but I was very bad at technique (laughs). Then I studied film in audiovisual production, but I was missing a more artistic dimension. It was by turning to documentary and anthropology that I found a language that suited me.”

Gradually, she moved away from the rigid framework of cinema to explore other, more accessible and spontaneous forms, such as photography and video installation.

“Cinema can be a heavy medium, requiring a lot of means and organization. I want to explore lighter things, like photography, that allow me to experiment in a different way. I’ve long seen art as a quest for performance and perfection, but I realize that you simply have to dare to try.”

Alongside her studies, she has been involved in a number of artistic and militant projects, developing a vision that combines social commitment and visual creation.

Despite several projects to her credit, Valentine is still searching for her place in the artistic world and the meaning of her approach. Intimately linked to a militant approach that has an impact on audiences, she reflects on the need to offer, through her work, an educational experience for the very young.

“My practice is really in its early stages. […] I’m searching a lot, I need to find my place and meaning in what I do. […] I’m thinking a lot about the careers I could do alongside my practice. I’d like to organize workshops with young people, with incarcerated people… For me, it’s important to have a tangible impact and not just produce artistic objects.”

Her relationship with art fluctuates between a search for legitimacy and a desire to break down a certain artistic elitism.

“There’s something very elitist about the arts. Yet anyone can hold a brush or a camera. You can make art just for the fun of it, without seeking perfection or institutional recognition.”

Art in motion: body, commitment and memory

Valentine’s interest in movement and choreography plays a key role in her practice. Although she has never danced, she is fascinated by body language and its narrative power, citing choreographers and dancers Rachid Ouramdane and Crystal Pite as inspirations.

What influences have shaped your approach?
“I draw from several artistic disciplines. Dance has always captivated me, even though I’ve never practiced it. I find it incredible how stories can be projected onto moving bodies. It’s one of the arts that moves me the most.“

This passion for dance and movement took on an even stronger dimension thanks to her collaboration with Virginie Alessandroni, dancer, choreographer and friend, whom she met in high school. Their artistic dialogue became an essential element in her creative process for Premiers souffles.

Premiers souffles : créer un langage visuel pour la lutte

The Premiers souffles project grew out of her involvement with the Youth for Climate movement when she was in high school. Initially involved in the movement’s communications and photography, she felt the need to create an activist tool that would convey the energy and determination of young people.

Can you tell us about Premiers souffles ?
“The initial idea was to create a video as a tool for mobilization, an artistic object at the service of the struggle. We wanted it to be shown at demonstrations. But it’s more complicated than we imagined in terms of implementation. I’d like my work to get out of traditional exhibition venues and be used by collectives, in the public space.”

In this work, Valentine collaborates with dancers and musicians to translate the intensity of a militant commitment into movement and sound.

Why did you choose video and installation to express this energy?
“With each project, I ask myself: what do I feel? What do I want to convey? The aim is to attract attention, to captivate, to provoke a reaction. What’s important to me is that the viewer doesn’t remain indifferent.“

At a screening in France, an elderly audience member confided that the film made her want to take to the streets immediately to demonstrate. This kind of reaction reinforced her belief that art can play a role in the memory and legacy of social struggles.

Do you think art has a role to play in the memory of social movements?
“Yes, it’s essential. You need several channels of expression to document a struggle. Art can capture the emotion and energy of a movement in a different way to political or historical discourse. My work doesn’t document struggles in a journalistic way, but it does leave an emotional trace of what was experienced.”

Exploring the persistence of struggles

Her work doesn’t stop at the moment of engagement: she’s also interested in what remains afterwards. The Youth for Climate movement she once knew has run out of steam in the face of government scorn and repression, a phenomenon she analyzes with lucidity.

Your work seems to question what remains of a movement after its peak. How do you see this momentum?
“A movement is born, dies, then reappears in another form. How do you keep going in the face of a feeling of powerlessness? My father has been an activist for decades, and at 60 he’s still demonstrating and going on strike. I find that impressive. It makes me think about how to maintain my commitment over the long term. For me, the solution lies in the collective.“

Projects and ambitions: inspiring people to take action

Valentine is currently working on a project that explores the school playground as a social microcosm. She’s interested in how children form groups, exercise power and reproduce dynamics of inclusion and exclusion.

What are your upcoming projects?
“My master’s project is about the playground. I want to understand how children’s groups are formed, who takes the lead and why. What values emerge in these interactions?”

Her work is evolving, but her wish remains the same: to create works that touch, question and provoke reflection on our individual and collective commitment.

What impact would you like your work to have on the public?
“I don’t try to provoke emotion for emotion’s sake. What counts is to provoke thought. If seeing my work makes someone want to get involved, that would be the greatest reward.”

At the crossroads of documentary, dance and video installation, her practice is an invitation to feel and act, to question our place in contemporary struggles and to imagine how to take them further.