Portrait #1, 2024
Apollinaria Broche (b. 1995; Moscow, Russia, lives in Paris, France).
Apollinaria Broche creates sculptures and installations blending the organic and fantastical. Using ceramics and bronze, she crafts sinuous, flowering plants adorned with anthropomorphic and symbolic elements—skulls, arms, lockets, snakes, and sprite-like creatures emerging from floral crevices. Her works evoke a mythic, fairy-tale quality, exploring themes of transformation and mysticism.
Broche draws on diverse cultural influences, including Fra Angelico’s luminosity, Fuseli’s romanticism, Carrington’s surrealism, and the cinematic visions of David Lynch and Dario Argento. Inspired by childhood fascination with the symbolic language of flowers, she connects art history with the meanings flowers hold across cultures.
A recent residency in Japan introduced her to new glazing techniques and the symbolic richness of Japanese gardens and flower calendars, providing fresh material and thematic inspiration for her evolving practice.
Apollinaria Broche graduated from ENSBA Paris atelier Anne Veronica Janssens in 2020. Her work has been exhibited all around the world, including New York and Tokyo. She has collaborated with various fashion designers such as Acne Studios and Adidas. Her work can be found in a number of major collections in Moscow including Garage Museum and Moscow Museum of Modern Art.