Through visceral and immersive art, Damien Malard’s creations challenge us to rethink humanity’s place in the natural order.
Text and interview by Valentina Parati | @valentinaxparati
Anthropomorphic creatures
When I first encountered Damien Malard’s work in New Borns, his latest series in Vetor, his art felt like the intense, dreamlike beats of Arisen My Senses by Björk & Arca (the Lanark Artefax remix came to mind), mixed with the surreal horror visuals of Mario Bava, my beloved Italian director. It also brought to mind Donna Haraway’s Chthulucene in the latest NERO edition, which discusses reconnecting with nature—not only among humans, but with all the species sharing our planet.
For Damien, art is a way to explore these questions, to imagine how far we can push nature before it becomes something entirely transformed. His sculptures, installations, and paintings often feature anthropomorphic creatures—hybrids of human and nature—capturing the potential mutations that could emerge in a world shaped by climate crises and technological intervention. His art doesn’t aim to provide solutions; instead, it prompts us to reflect on our relationship with nature and its micro-organisms. “I’m not interested in offering answers, but in generating new questions about how we coexist with nature, translating science fact into emotions,” he says, reminding us that we’re part of a much larger narrative.
"L’air était sec mais tes lèvres encore sucrées” by Damien Malard.
Who is Damien Malard?
I’d introduce him as an artist “in constant flux.”
His work is as fluid and ever-evolving as the landscapes he traverses. Now based in Paris, his life and work are always in motion, traveling between Brazil (through programs like Arapuca Arte e Cultura), Argentina (in residencies like R.A.R.O. Buenos Aires), Portugal and beyond.
These residencies keep him moving both geographically and creatively, sparking new connections and ideas. His choice of medium is equally fluid: he moves easily between installation, painting, and sculpture, with each form dialoguing with the others. His installations are immersive and cinematic, creating atmospheres that envelop the viewer, while his paintings—though separate—are part of the same visual language, together building a cohesive vocabulary of forms and colors. This “micro-cosmos,” as Damien calls it, lets him create a unified artistic expression, regardless of the medium.
"La symphonie de Vénus" by Damien Malard.
Damien’s fascination with the Anthropocene, nature’s resilience, and the interwoven relationship between humanity and the natural world drives him to create an artistic language that transcends traditional boundaries. Raised in France, he initially studied graphic design before moving into visual arts. He later completed a Master of Fine Arts in Portugal, ultimately finding his voice in immersive installations and sculptures.
“I was searching for something that felt closer to the earth, more alive,” he explains. This search took him to Brazil, where the intense environmental issues and vast landscapes gave his work a visceral, grounded quality. Immersed in the raw consequences of environmental degradation, from massive Amazon fires to apocalyptic smoke clouds swallowing entire cities, Damien’s art was transformed. “In Brazil, you feel nature’s anger,” he says. Unlike Europe, where environmental issues can sometimes feel distant or abstract, Brazil forced him to confront them directly, giving his work a rawness that might not have been possible in more insulated settings.
What struck me most about Damien’s work after our conversation is how he begins with scientific facts and translates them into visual experiences. He doesn’t simply present data; he transforms it into immersive installations and paintings that feel both speculative and grounded. In Damien’s hands, these facts become living narratives, works that don’t just speak to our present world but imagine possible futures—and, as we discussed, these are not utopian futures but rather dystopian ones. Instead of focusing on solutions, he sees his role as a visual translator, taking complex, often inaccessible scientific language and turning it into emotional expressions. “Science can give us the keys to understand the world,” Damien explains, “but art allows us to feel it. With art, you discover things through your emotions, not just through information.”
"New Borns" by Damien Malard for Vetor Magazine.
One of his recent projects, Symphonie de Venus, explores the intersection of nature and technology. Created during his residency with R.A.R.O. in Buenos Aires—a city that felt vibrant, creative, and queer for his inspiration—the project emerged against an apocalyptic backdrop of political unrest and economic instability. His experiences became part of the work, which centers on a ceramic representation of the Brugmansia Arborea flower—a toxic, trumpet-like plant used in local rituals, symbolizing beauty and survival amid instability.
In this dystopian narrative, nature is no longer just a backdrop for human activity—it becomes a central, dynamic character. “It’s a sculpture that breathes,” He describes the piece as invoking a mechanical rhythm, with light alone creating the illusion of breath, entirely without motors. “At what point do we stop and let nature take control?” he wonders. The final piece feels like a hybrid between an opera and a sci-fi film, its pulsing, breathing flower embodying a powerful, almost dystopian message.
When we first began speaking, I immediately asked Damien if his work was influenced by Solarpunk themes or cinematic and fashion set design. His sculptures seemed to me like extensions of “props” from sci-fi films or elements from Octavia Butler’s novels. As it turns out, Damien does work in set design, and his influences closely align with those I mentioned.
Influenced by science fiction and cinema, Damien draws from directors like Bertrand Mandico, Yann Gonzalez, and Mario Bava to give his work a dreamlike quality, often creating scenes that feel like fragments from a dystopian film. “I think of my work as fragments of a larger narrative,” he explains. Sound is essential to his creative process, and artists like Björk, Arca, Eartheater, and Sega Bodega —whose work pushes the boundaries of sound in ways that parallel his own exploration of form and light— help him think of his work in terms of space and emotion. “I’m fascinated by how sound shapes space, like light or sculpture,” he says.
“With Björk, for example, it’s about creating a complete sensory environment.” Sound adds emotional resonance to his work, turning his installations into fully immersive experiences.
"New Borns" by Damien Malard for Vetor Magazine.
Damien’s work invites us to imagine new possibilities for living alongside nature, where humans and the natural world find ways to adapt and evolve together. As he sums up the heart of his practice: “Nature will keep regenerating, even if we don’t. That’s what I want to show—that in the end, we’re just a part of the narrative, not the authors.”