Terra Corsa

Aude Ambroggi

From One Island to Another

Painter and sculptor, Aude Ambroggi has lived all over the world. But she has always heard the call of Corsica and maintains this vital need to return there regularly. Today, she lives in Paris and goes back as often as possible: "Home is there, not in Paris."

It is on an island, in the heart of Paris, that the young artist paints. An islander she is, and an islander she remains. The water undoubtedly protects her from all the sensations to which she is so receptive. She has set up her studio in the basement of a beautiful Parisian building, and through its basement window, she sees truncated passersby...

Legs without heads. Bodies without eyes. Never mind her works; they will live on later.

On large canvases, Aude Ambroggi draws figures in pastel with such sensitivity that one feels as if one is entering their innermost world. On the easel, a large piece, "Mind Genesis," which could be translated as "the genesis of the mind," depicts Aude as a child riding a donkey and Aude as an adult near the child, somewhat like in a Maestra. The gray stones, aloe leaves, sky, and sand seem to represent a typically island setting, reinforced by the presence of the small sumeru (donkey). On the left side, the work is framed by two angels, in the manner of the Madonnas and Child by Cimabue or Giotto, whose throne is surrounded by angels with folded, colorful wings. One blows a trumpet; the other turns his back on the scene; between them,

a white unicorn.

"There is a calling."

Aude Ambroggi does not prepare her canvases with sketches; she applies whatever comes to her onto the canvas and achieves very powerful results. In "Mind Genesis," one can see a beautiful metaphor for the birth of a woman, an artist, shaped by a childhood rooted in Corsica.

For although Aude was born and lived in Kenya, as well as in Tanzania, Ivory Coast, and England, she remains deeply connected to Corsica, and always has been. "My roots are in Aullène, in Alta Rocca," she explains. "From the age of 24, my returns became more frequent. Before that, I lived too far away for it to be a regular occurrence." Aude has lived more often in English-speaking countries than French-speaking ones, following her father—a chemist for a major soda company—on his business trips.

She has only lived in France since meeting the actor Daniel Auteuil, whom she married in Porto-Vecchio in 2006. Her sister is in Australia, and her brother and parents are in Corsica, which motivates her even more to return regularly. “There’s a calling,” she says, “it’s visceral. The emotion is so intense it’s reminiscent of The Call of the Wild.” As for Daniel Auteuil, a longtime lover of Corsica, he seems overjoyed to have combined his love for the island with love itself.

From Criminology to Sculpture

In Paris, Aude is immersed in her art. A profession that caught up with her after a rather unconventional path.

While sculpture has always been a passion, it was criminology that led her to it. As a child, she was already sculpting, but her parents didn’t want her to pursue a dead-end job… So, the young woman spent three years studying criminology and sociology

in England and worked, among other things, on reconstructing faces using modeling techniques, based on skeletons. A discipline very well taught across the Channel.

This part of her training reinforced her passion for sculpture. Despite her desire to be like Jodie Foster in The Silence of the Lambs, she had to give up her aspirations to join the criminal investigation services in England and the United States. Aude turned to art, a field more in line with her profound sensitivity.

It has been her profession for four years. Fascinated by sculpture and stone, she draws like a sculptor, starting with volumes and working towards the finished form. Her pastel technique is beautiful, and her sculpture is powerful.

Always full of good intentions, she admits that she always goes to Corsica with her paints, but that she can't work there: "Over there, the stones are already all sculpted; what more can I do? My husband and I always go with work, but it's difficult to work in Corsica. If I want to paint, I stand facing a wall so I don't get distracted by the beauty of the landscapes. It's difficult for Corsicans to represent Corsica, because there's something sacred about it."