Welcoming Cléa Darnaud: Artica Svalbard’s First Resident of 2025

Artica Svalbard is pleased to announce that French artist Cléa Darnaud has arrived in Longyearbyen as our first resident of 2025. Nominated by OCA (Office for Contemporary Art Norway) she will be staying until April.

Darnaud is a drawer and intaglio engraver who combines traditional drawing and engraving techniques to produce illustrations and publishing projects. Since 2018, she has participated in artistic residencies in France and internationally, including in Canada, Finland, Luxembourg, and Greenland. Her work often explores the intersection of reality and fiction, drawing from travel experiences, landscapes, and daily life to create pieces that take the form of prints and artist books. She is currently working on her first graphic novel, which will be published by Virages Graphiques (Éditions Rivages). Her works have been exhibited in multiple countries, including France, Germany, Finland, Canada, Denmark, Belgium, Greenland, and the United States.

During her residency at Artica Svalbard, Darnaud plans to gather impressions of life in Longyearbyen by documenting conversations, objects, landscapes, and atmospheres. These observations will inform a new project, envisioned as a fictional narrative in book form, blending elements of an artist’s book and a comic strip. The project will aim to reflect the territory and its communities.

We are excited to support Cléa during her time in Svalbard and look forward to seeing how her time here shapes her work. Follow us on our website and social media for updates on her residency and opportunities to engage with her work.

Welcome to Svalbard, Cléa!