La Farine de l’esprit

Julie Bassinot is a graphic designer specialising in editorial practices and working as a teacher. In 2024, she led creative workshops with children from the Claude Nougaro school in the commune of Damiatte in France as part of the Création en Cours programme run by the Atelier Médicis. Here is how she describes what they did together (translated from French):

For four months, a cooperative of child researchers was organised. It met to observe the natural elements that transport seeds, grow wheat, power mills and print images. We practised and experimented with our hands, gathering stories in the fields and bakeries, as we met people and let our imaginations run wild. We worked with what already exists, close to us, in cooperation with natural forces and local people. We met Claire, a farmer-baker, and Pascal, a farmer. We tried to preserve the best of what we have, to connect agriculture and writing: the cultivation of the land and that of the mind.

Wheat, bread, mill: three figures as a way of introducing children to abstract concepts such as cultures, diversity, resources, commons, etc.