Installation: decals, mural, drawings, video, photos, objects
2009–2010
Art Produce Gallery, San Diego, CA
December 12, 2009 – January 24, 2010

View from the sidewalk

Lettering on the window – detail

Main Room – Mural and inks on paper mounted on wood panels

Mural and inks – detail

Entrance of the Second Room (left)

Series of Photos, Mauritania, Africa, 1975

Mauritania, 1975

The articfacts: rocks, notebook, intruments, neolithic tools

Video screen shot

Talk at the Gallery

Created on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species, Lucy, Darwin, and Me explores human origins, evolution, and biodiversity through a deeply autobiographical lens.

The installation draws from Michele Guieu’s formative years in Africa, where she traveled through the Sahara with her geologist father and biologist mother, collecting fossils and experiencing the landscape firsthand. This period coincided with the discovery of the hominid known as Lucy, which became a symbolic reference point for the work.

Conceived as a two-room environment, the exhibition evokes a natural history museum. It combines mural, drawings, text, archival photographs from the Sahara, family artifacts, and video. The first room features a large mural extending across a long wall, while the second, more intimate space presents photographs and objects connected to her family history.

Guieu approaches the exhibition as both artist and curator, bringing together multiple media to create an immersive, layered narrative. The work reflects her longstanding engagement with questions of evolution—an interest rooted in her upbringing—and considers how these ideas resonate within contemporary cultural contexts.

Community engagement was an integral part of the project. The exhibition included performances, storytelling, and a panel discussion on evolution, inviting dialogue between art, science, and the public.

The Biodiversity Series