Aurélie

Chapter Thirty Two

Aurélie released Seb's hand and followed him as he guided her into one of the rooms that led off from the main gallery. The student, Mariella Bastiste  was in the far corner, near a desk similar to the one Seb had in his exhibition room. She waved at them but carried on talking to a couple in their forties who were eyeing up a piece of artwork and flicking through the exhibition guide. 

"Mariella uses threads as paint -  all of her work is textile based. She did a different final module to me but we have the same professor as a tutor," he explained. Aurélie looked at the picture that was closest to her. It had a similar chaotic feel to Seb's work but the layers were built up of rich threads, embroidered into a deep maroon cloth that had been stretched over a wooden frame to keep it taut. Silvers and golds were dashed through the material whilst dark navy threads ran alongside subtle crimson stitches that were almost invisible against the maroon backdrop. They swirled around with more swirls centred in the middle of the canvas and off to one side. Up close it looked so intricate and delicated. Seb was standing behind her as she took in the picture and tried to make sense of it whilst still admiring the amount of time and attention to detail it must have taken. He placed his hands on her hips and moved her gently backwards, altering her perspective. 

"My god," she gasped. "That's insane!" From further away Aurélie could quite clearly see the outline of a woman's face, hair blowing across her forehead, lifted by the wind, in the picture. 

"Mariella's work is all about perspective. More so than mine. She hides images behind her textiles and lets you discover them."  

Aurélie's mouth was still hanging open in disbelief. "It's incredible, and beautiful and just... Wow." "She likes to make people work for it. You have to move around to get the view point just right. Some people would walk straight past this and not even see the actual picture." 

"You're all so talented!" Aurélie turned to face Seb, looking up at his strong jar and considerate eyes that she had always taken for nonchalance. 

"I guess things changed depending on where you're standing." His lips turned up at the corners, giving him a lopsided grin. "It's all about perspective Relie."

Mariella was petite with round spectacles and a cute brown bob haircut. She was wearing a black fitted skirt and a red and white polkerdot blouse with a ruffled neckline. A large chunky silver necklace was placed with expert precision on her collarbone and she was wearing doc marten mary-jane shoes. Auelie smiled to herself, realising that out of the crowd of people who were milling around the exhibition, she would have put money on Mariella being one of the artists. There was just something so, creative about her. Like she oozed art appeal. She was still talking animatedly to the couple with the exhibition guidebook when Seb and Aurélie turned to leave. 

He guided her through the remaining five rooms containing a zany art installation of a boat made out of reclaimed household appliances, an intimate study of the human form which consisted of seven sculptures of busts and limbs in plaster, a thoughtprovoking series of photos using images taken of cells through a microscope, Aurélie loved the patterns in that room. 

The last two rooms included a video montage of couples padlocking their true love to the Pont des Arts, Passerelle Léopold-Sédar-Senghor and the Pont de l'Archevêché ending with the collapse of one of the bridges and finally a series of books had been deconstructed and suspended from the air to create a swarm of butterflies filling up the centre of the room. 

"So, what do you think, Relie?" Seb looked down at her as they circled the paper butterflies. 

"I'm so impressed. The level of creativity and originality is so high. I can't believe it was done by students!" 

"Well, we're graduating in a few months so I guess that makes us semi-professional," he winked at her. "Any favourites?" 

"Someone's fishing for a compliment again," she laughed. "Obviously yours was a firm fave, I loved Mariella's work and this installation with the falling words and butterflies is stunning. I wasn't so keen on the love locks causing the bridge to fall down. There was something a bit bitter about that one." 

"Yes, that was done by Michael, he broke up with his girlfriend the week before we were given our final assignment. I think it's fair to say she inspired that piece." 

"That must have been tough." 

"I think it's been a recovery process for him," Seb agreed. Aurélie thought back to their earlier conversation and wondered if his paintings had been cathartic for him too but decided it probably wasn't the right thing to ask. Instead she squeezed his hand.

"I should head back to the house, thanks for showing me around, it's been fantastic." 

"Anytime, Relie".

As she left, Aurélie noticed a small black circle tattooed on his inner arm, justbelow the sleeve of his tshirt. How had she not noticed it below? The line wassolid and black with a smaller, thinner line running along the inside of thecircle.