Bertille Bak's 'Mineur Mineur' Exposes Child Labor in Mines at Fondazione Merz

Bertille Bak (Arras, 1983), winner of the third Mario Merz Prize, presents her exhibition 'Mineur Mineur' at Fondazione Merz in Turin, curated by Caroline Bourgeois. The show focuses on child labor in mines across five countries: India, Indonesia, Thailand, Bolivia, and Madagascar. Bak's practice involves immersive research, living with communities to document their socio-anthropological realities. The centerpiece is a synchronized five-channel video installation 'Mineur Mineur' (2022), depicting children and mine shafts. An electromechanical installation 'Le berceau du chaos' (2022) resembles an antique carousel with empty wooden horses, evoking absence. The video 'Bleu de travail' (2020) symbolically shows chicks raised to be prey for eagles. 'Tu redeviendras poussière' (2017), a 24-minute video shot in Barlin, features silicosis patients as extras, highlighting the fatal lung disease from silica dust inhalation. Bak's family history informs her work: her grandfather worked as a miner in Barlin from age 13, and her ancestors migrated from Poland to the Pas-de-Calais region. She trained under Christian Boltanski. The exhibition runs at Fondazione Merz in Turin.