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Marie-Jo Lafontaine (born 17 November 1950) is a Belgian sculptor and video artist. [1] [2] [3] She lives and works as a Professor of Media Arts at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design in Brussels. [4] [5] [6]
Lafontaine is from Antwerp (Anvers), Belgium. [1] She studied from 1975 to 1979 at l'École nationale supérieure d'architecture et des arts visuels. [6]
She has worked in many media including "tapestries" in which she weaves black-dyed wool into linear patterns; sculptural work using plaster, concrete, and lead; and photography. In 1980, Lafontaine started using video in her sculptures and has created installations and environments utilizing video. [6] [7]
She was awarded the Prix de la Jeune Peinture Belge in 1977; [8] a FIACRE grant from the French Ministry of Culture in 1986, [9] and in 1996 the European Photography Award. [10] [2]
Critic Konstanze Thümmel describes the dominating themes in her post-1980s video work as "association between Eros and Thanatos, passion and reason," and that Lafontaine explores these "...through powerful images of people and animals in extreme situations." [11] [9]
Lafontaine is best known for her work Les larmes d'acier (1986). [12] [7]
