Margaux Derhy was born in Paris, France, in 1985.
Reconnecting with her own history, Margaux Derhy turned to her childhood when she began painting. She immersed herself in her family's archives, transposing the characters in the photographs into a marvellous universe, gradually building her Mémoire Vive autofiction. A re-enchantment of her own memories, a world where anything is still possible.
Margaux studied at Central Saint Martins and graduated from the Royal College of Art with an MA in Painting in 2021. Over time, she took up embroidery, having discovered it during a residency in Cape Town, and blended this technique with her painting practice. After the death of her grandmother in 2020, she explores family memories and the exile of her Berber ancestors from Morocco. This research becomes a quest for identity and culture, enriching Mémoire Vive with scenes of tenderness and security, where the characters' faces are often masked to add a touch of opacity.
Based in Morocco, Margaux set up her embroidery workshop “Massa Stories” in 2022, training and employing ten Amazigh women to break the solitude of artistic practice and engage with the local community. Together, they embroider images from the past, making this series a collective project that strengthens cultural ties and inspires the artist.
The embroideries are handmade from drawings by the artist, themselves inspired by photographs of her family taken in Morocco in the 1960s. Bound by Amazigh culture, the embroiderers participate in the creation of these images, which echo their own history. The choice of thread types, colors and even composition is always a collegial one. From the initial sketch to framing and exhibition, the women in the studio are involved in the entire creative process.
Her work has been exhibited in France, the UK, Morocco, Belgium and South Africa, among other countries.
The artist lives and works between Paris and Massa.