Maëlle Cornut explores our systems of thought and our wider environment with a sense of poetry and a touch of humour. Harnessing her talent for challenging and decentring, she primarily addresses questions of gender, social constructs, the hierarchy of living things, and ecosystem interdependence, working with different mediums – drawing, photography, sculpture and film – according to the subject and context of each piece.
Cornut received a PolARTS Research Grant from Pro Helvetia and the Swiss Polar Institute to produce her film, which is a collaborative effort with Dr G. Losapio and his Biodiversity Change research group at the University of Lausanne. The piece explores the melting of the Mont Miné Glacier and paints a detailed picture of its impact on the wider ecosystem. It takes the viewer on a fascinating journey through time, jumping between sequences and perspectives to show how the local landscape and habitats – wetlands, wildflower meadows and dense forests – have changed over the years.

Maëlle Cornut holds a master’s degree from HEAD – Genève. In 2023, she enrolled in the “Transforming Environments” pre-doctoral programme at Zurich University of the Arts. In 2021 and 2022, she was a lecturer in the TRANS– master’s programme at HEAD – Genève and, since 2023, she has taught the “Queer, Queering” class at the Valais School of Art (EDHEA) in Sierre. Cornut won an Irène Reymond Foundation award in 2022 and received a Valais Prize for Culture in 2023.

Maëlle Cornut, Glacier Companion Species – Ferpècle, Vidéo, 4K, 2024 © Maëlle Cornut