Jeanne Varaldi is a visual artist based in Paris. Trained as an urban planner, the territory and its built environment are central to her artistic approach. Inspired by the world of construction sites and urban signage, she borrows their vocabulary and codes to create installations that invite visitors to wander. Pieces of plaster, handling straps, protective tarpaulins, colored painter's tape: these are just some of the urban fragments that Jeanne Varaldi repurposes, assembles, and transforms, offering a playful interpretation of the city.

In her most recent work, she also questions urban mapping and our intimate relationship to it. The map is no longer a tool intended for simple planning or interpretation of the territory; it becomes a repository of memory for its inhabitants, revealing personal stories and placing the human being at the heart of the city.

Jeanne also presents the first part of her Mapping Stories project, created in partnership with the Chanakya School of Crafts in India. This foundation provides education and training in embroidery to women from disadvantaged backgrounds. This project allows the artist to support education while simultaneously working to preserve Indian crafts and heritage. Mapping Stories I involved ten volunteer students who created ten pieces in silk and cotton, each based on a map of a place chosen by the student. The medium is a thin, delicate handkerchief, symbolizing the intimate and personal connection each woman has with her cherished place. The installation is accompanied by video testimonials from the artisans, revealing a series of personal visions and narratives of the city. For Porte B.'s inaugural exhibition, Jeanne Varaldi has designed a customizable edition. With the Chanakya School, she had a series of fifteen pieces embroidered representing the map of Paris, on which collectors can ask the artist to intervene with one or more colored embroidery stitches.