Carla Adra is a French and Canadian artist born in 1993 in Toronto (Canada). She lives and works in Paris. She is represented by the Galerie Valeria Cetraro, Paris. She studied at l’École Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, 2020, the l’École Nationale d’Art et de Design de Reims in Reims, 2018, the Ontario College of Art and Design of Toronto in 2014. Her work was shown in group shows at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris), the 66th Montrouge Salon, the Marina Abramovic Institute (Amsterdam), the CAPC of Bordeaux, the 15th Lyon Biennale, FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, the Cité Internationale des Arts (International City of Arts) Paris, the Centre des Livres d’Artistes (Artists Books Centre) (St-Yrieix- la-Perche), the Niemeyer Space (Paris).
She is part of the 2024 shows « Power Up, technical imaginaries and social utopias » (at the Kunsthalle, Mulhouse), « Approaching Unreason » at the Palais de Tokyo (Paris), «Revenir du présent, regards croisés sur la scène actuelle (« Back from the Past, Converging views on the contemporary scene »), Collection Lambert (Avignon).
Some solo shows include : in 2022 « Paroles chaudes » (« Warm Words ») La Galerie, Contemporary Art Centre in Noisy-le-Sec; en 2023 « Ça te colle à la peau (« It gets in your Blood »)» exhibition space Mécènes du Sud Montpellier-Sète- Béziers (Montpellier); in 2024 «Se perdre sans peur» (« Lost without Fear ») 40mcube Art Centre (Rennes) and « Carnaval de chambre » (« Room Carnival » Galerie Valeria Cetraro (Paris). Carla Adra regularly produces performances in various institutions such as the Palais de Tokyo (Paris) or the Musée d’art Moderne et Contemporain (Strasbourg). Her work has recently integrated the FMAC Fonds d’art contemporain Paris collections, FRAC MECA Aquitaine, FRAC Artothèque Nouvelle Aquitaine, FRAC Lorraine, and FRAC Les Abattoirs.
Tales of the self and the experience of reciprocity are at the heart of Carla Adra’s practice. She sets up moments of encounters through collective and performative experiments in which she lets the other have a voice and allows it to be heard when that same voice is often disqualified within the domestic, the urban or the institutional spheres. In public spaces or inside structures, she collects words in return for a real-life story, and suggests moving the situation of utterance, taking on a personal story the way we put someone else’s clothes on, whilst individual testimonies resonate with shared experiences. Carla Adra simultaneously develops an intimist sculptural practice opening a dialogue between inner speech and subterranean shapes. Carla Adra also channels her practice into transmitting via workshops, sessions and meetings with mixed publics through collaborating with various collectives and institutions such as: TIMMY – Soutien aux Mineurs Exilés à Paris, Art en Partage à Romainville, Les Ateliers Médicis, Orange Rouge.
