Camille Henrot

The practice of French-born, New York–based artist Camille Henrot (born 1978) spans film, painting, drawing, sculpture and installation. Henrot’s influences are equally diverse, encompassing everything from self-help to cultural anthropology to social media in its engagement with the changing status of information distribution and interpersonal connections.
This first major monograph on the artist features key works from the beginning of Henrot’s career to 2020, providing an intimate look at both new works on paper and immersive exhibits like The Pale Fox (2014) and Grosse Fatigue (2013). Over 200 images are accompanied by new scholarship on the artist. The array of eclectic voices gathered—Dan Fox, Shanay Jhaveri, Clara Meister, Jane Devery and Pip Wallis—does justice to the multifaceted quality of Henrot’s work.

Elephant Child is a natural extension of the artistic practice of New York-based French artist Camille Henrot. Originated during an Artist Research Fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution, which laid the groundwork for her 2013 video Grosse Fatigue and the subsequent installation The Pale Fox (2014–15), Elephant Child represents the culmination of a long-term inquiry into the human effort to make the universe comprehensible. The book contains an original text by Henrot written with Clara Meister and Michael Connor, documentation, sketches, and research materials. An interview between Henrot and social anthropologist Monique Jeudy-Ballini offers insight into Henrot’s characteristic approach of knowledge production and organization. Ultimately, the book is an object of high universalist ambition—devoid of authority, creating instead a vivid prismatic image of the realm of thought.