Workshop led by Marie Saarbach, assisted by Princess De La Cruz, as part of the Semaine de tous les possibles (Week of all possibilities).

1 cm² x 10 nails to tell your story

Nail art, or “the art of decorating nails,” is both an elaborate makeup technique and a true space for aesthetic creation.

Having returned to the forefront in recent years, notably driven by the profusion of tutorials on social media, the art of decorating one's nails is nevertheless part of an ancient history. In Babylon, an ancient city in Mesopotamia, men used mineral powders to display their social status. In Egypt, men and women colored their nails with henna for a similar purpose. The Incas used it to represent animals, which were attributed spiritual value.

Observing the current boom in nail art and the ever-increasing experimentation with nail decoration, how can we invest this practice with a narrative dimension?

What can we tell on the scale of a nail? What stories, what landscapes, what nuances can take shape there?