The Metamorphoses of Heidi Bucher

Heidi Bucher is famous for her "metamorphosis" works, as she herself defined them. The "peeling" technique, developed by the artist during her stay in Zurich, in an atelier set up in the underground, blind cold room of a former butcher's shop, consists of covering objects - but also architecture - with a mix of latex and other "ingredients", enveloping things, interior spaces and buildings with a sort of second skin. In her early days, Heidi Bucher applied the metamorphosis technique to garments, creating a texture on the surface that resembled leather in both color and quality and which seemed to preserve the personal history of their owners. Subsequently, the same technique was used to wrap private environments, such as her parents' house. They were works that delved into the exploration of power dynamics within the family. During the 1980s, the work of "flaying" expanded to public places with collective historical memories, such as the former site of the women's prison of Le Landeron, the Grand Hôtel Brissago, which had once been used to detain Jewish women and children during the Second World War, the Bellevue sanatorium in Bad Kreuzlingen, on Lake Constance. A process of liberation that has expanded from the private dimension to embrace historical and political issues. As curator Yan Shijie stated: “Heidi Bucher’s artworks are like energized fossils, narrating the memories and traces of an era, shifting people’s perceptions to the profound meanings beyond the material.”