On the occasion of the 170th anniversary of the Banque internationale à Luxembourg, a collaboration with Luxembourgish artist Chantal Maquet emerged as a natural choice. Her work, deeply rooted in memory and traces of the past, lends this anniversary a dimension that is both sensitive and evocative.

Chantal Maquet's practice is based on a singular approach: she collects anonymous photographs found at flea markets or drawn from family archives, such as those of grandparents. For the artist, these images are not mere documents, but fragments of lives, bearing witness to meaningful moments for the people depicted. They thus become a raw material that she reinterprets and transforms through painting.

Within the context of this exhibition, this approach takes on its full meaning. Drawing on photographic archives linked to the bank's history, the artist succeeds in bringing forth significant moments of its development, as if captured through the lens over time. She does not simply reproduce these images; she transforms them.

This transformation is achieved in particular through a strong pictorial gesture. The photographs become a support that the artist reworks with vigorous brushstrokes, revealing both movement and pressure. Color plays a central role in this process. Chantal Maquet favors bold combinations, creating atmospheres rather than fixed meanings. As she notes, colors do not carry intrinsic significance; they operate above all through the moods they generate. Violet, in particular, holds a special place in her work, sometimes appearing as a lingering trace, like a palimpsest, even when it has been covered or erased.

Beyond aesthetics, her work questions human relationships and social constructions. Through an approach akin to a sociology of determination, she highlights the roles and constraints imposed by society.

Thus, the choice of Chantal Maquet for this exhibition appears especially relevant: her work, rooted in memory and the transformation of images, resonates with the history of the bank while offering a contemporary, sensitive, and critical perspective.

Chantal Maquet, born in 1982 in Luxembourg, lives and works in Hamburg at Künstlerhaus Wendenstraße. Her multidisciplinary practice—encompassing painting, video, and interactive sound installations—explores identity constructions and social dynamics. Her works are included in the collections of the National Museum of History and Art of Luxembourg, the two museums of the City of Luxembourg, the Ministry of Culture, and the Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr in Dresden.