the artist

Spring 1984. Breeding season of species. From about 200 millions of spermatozoa, only a few hundred will make it through the uterine tube. The spermatozoon X is one of them. The oocyte X is patiently waiting for natural selection to happen.


Prune Nourry shouted out her first cry in Paris on January 30, 1985. Artist in gestation, she studied in vitro at the Ecole Boulle, specializing in wood sculpture.


Interested in bioethics and anthropology, she creates new species by splicing humans and animals, creating contemporary scientific allegories that evoke the artificial selection of humans. Documentation and research are integral parts of her work, as she supports her projects with interviews of scientists, and records people's reactions to her work through happenings.


In 2006, Domesticated Babies (Les Bébés Domestiques) questioned the anthropomorphism of pets through “genetic manipulation.” During her Adoption Day events in Paris, London, Brussels, and New York, her human-pet hybrid sculptures set to the streets in search of adoptive parents.


In 2009, the artist began her Procreative Dinners (ephemeral works crossing art, science and gastronomy), bringing together a star chef and a scientist to reflect on the idea of children “à la carte” - first presented in Paris and Geneva, and soon in New York and Tokyo.


In 2010 and 2011, she focused on gender selection and, after months of research in India, presented in New Delhi, Paris and Kolkata the work Holy Daughters, featuring hybrids between India's sacred cows and adolescent girls.


In 2011, the In Vitro series, presented at her last show in Paris, offers another step in the artist's medium and questions the pre-implantation diagnosis: the pre-selection of human embryos.


Prune Nourry is currently the artist-in-residence at The Invisible Dog Art Center in Brooklyn, and will be living in New York until 2013, focusing her work on the issues surrounding assisted procreation in the United States.

Artist portrait