Solenn Heussaff pays tribute to dementia-stricken dad in latest artwork

Once in a while, we come across an artist who is very much attuned with her most elemental self. Such is Solenn Heussaff, whose rawness can be felt whether she is acting on television, painting, or just creating anything with her hands. Solenn is unpretentious, even in her artwork, which are always evocative and contemplative.

For her latest collection of paintings, titled “Into the Unseen Garden,” Solenn bares her emotions as she pay tribute to her dad, 79-year old Louis Paul Heussaff, a former sailor in the French Navy who is now staying in the Philippines with her Filipina mother. Louis is battling dementia, a neurological disorder characterized by loss of memory and other cognitive difficulties.

READ: Louie Ignacio’s suspense movie ’40 Days’ explores death, dementia, family drama

Article continues after this advertisement

As her father’s ailment blurs his memory, Solenn finds clarity in nature, the green foliage providing balance to an ever-changing world to come up with a series of abstract art pieces that invites the beholder to enter her private landscape.

FEATURED STORIES

ENTERTAINMENT

ENTERTAINMENT

ENTERTAINMENT

“Into the Unseen Garden” comes two years after Vīta, Solenn’s duo exhibition with fellow French-Filipina artist Olivia d’Aboville, a childhood friend. She immerses herself anew with her canvass, embracing abstraction to express her perspective on the emotional landscape of growth—its beauty, tension, and the quiet chaos that accompanies transformation.

In this interview with INQUIRER Entertainment, Solenn arrives in a simple sundress, her hair in a simple half-pony while keeping her makeup, if at all, to a minimum. Her charming simplicity and quiet confidence were a study in itself, as though she wanted to keep this part of herself— all natural, stripped of filters—separate from her persona as an actress who is glamorous and camera-ready.

Read our redacted one-on-one interview with Solenn:

Congratulations on your exhibit.Thank you so much… It’s been years since the last one. I’ve been with Provenance for a while, so usually every two years I have, like, a coming-out. It takes time.

Article continues after this advertisement

How has painting become a part of you?Since I was small, since I was three, I’ve always loved to paint. And since 2016, I started exhibiting with different galleries. Provenance is the longest, but it’s been like a constant now in my life. And since I’ve kind of taken a step back from TV, I had more time to focus then on the artworks.

Where do you get your artistic influence? Do you have family members who are also into painting?So my mom’s side, they’re all from Paete, Laguna, they’re all sculptors. And my dad’s side naman, a lot of his siblings paint and they paint well, but they’re not, they don’t exhibit or anything, but it’s all like a hobby in the family.

Article continues after this advertisement

Do you need to have a sort of motivation before you could paint?I’ve always loved to create. I’m someone that loves to create. I love to cook also. But yeah, creating is really my thing. I’m not that type na so I don’t do much. It’s because I get shy to talk it in person. I prefer to express with my fingers.

‘Into The Unseen Garden‘ speaks of growth, lushness. Was there a particular reason behind this collection? It’s ever-changing growth. Because basically I wanted this one to be like, it’s still nature and landscape, but it’s used as a language. It’s used as a metaphor and it’s also the subject. So you see flowers, but it’s actually about the landscape of growth and how we always change and how we always evolve as people and how, you know, we need to just let things happen for us to be able to move forward.

But do you feel this reflects your current state of mind?Yes, it’s all about, I mean, again, we’re constantly evolving as people. And I was saying to a friend before that, I think humans in general were scared of change. Change is a scary territory, but at the end of the day, change is the only constant, so it’s where things are always changing, always evolving. So we really need to learn how how to adapt. So that’s the whole concept of the exhibit.

Do you have an artists that you feel an affinity with like, whose art resonates with you?So I love Hilma af Klint. She is an artist I’ve looked up to for a few years now. She’s from the 1800s. But her artworks have always been so parang forward. She was known to see spirits and everything. So everyone thought she was crazy back then. But then when you look at her art pieces, it’s so current and now. Yeah, a little bit elemental, but her colors are [vibrant]. Like, you have like lilac and pink, things that you wouldn’t see in the Renaissance era, which were really dark or like morbid because of the wars and everything. She’s very different. And she’s kind of been like recently my go-to when I need inspiration. [Her art] looks very different from what I do, but I just like how much of a forward thinker she is, and not afraid to do new things.

Can you walk us through your thought process when you were making this collection?Okay, so from since my last exhibit in 2024, I’ve always really been into for me into nature, that’s where I find my peace. That’s where I go and I’m having a bad day. Nature has always been my constant best friend. And usually when I paint, that’s where my inspiration comes from. Every morning I have my coffee, I just look at the garden, I look at the birds, and then I just notice things here and there. I notice a leaf sprout. I’m that crazy woman that gives names to her plants. That’s me. So that’s how I get my inspiration. And then from there, I’m not the type naman that sketches. Like I usually like, when I’m inspired, I go in front of the painting and I start with a background and then I slowly flow and it changes like I turn my paintings around. I leave again for research and I take photos of leaves in my garden and yeah, it just kind of happens. It’s never, it’s never planned. Like most of the beautiful things in life, it’s not planned.

What kind of support do you get from your family specifically from your husband?Well, his support is that he’s not allowed to go into my studio. That’s my private sanctuary. I have my own painting studio in my house. So my kids are allowed to come when I tell them they can come because that’s really my area. But I also get inspo from them because sometimes I just give them a big canvas. I put the paint on the floor and then I let them go with their hands, their feet, everything. And sometimes when that happens, I see something and then I create from there also.

READ: With ‘UnMarry,’ Solenn Heussaff hopes to show the reality of marriage

Are they following your footsteps?I think so. I think at this point, also kids that age, they’re really meant to experiment in play. So I don’t see, I can’t tell there’ll be a painter later on or a stylist or, but they do have the interest and they love colors. Every time I’m painting, they try to go to my studio, they want to paint with me. They’re still young, so I just let them experiment.

Looking at your own paintings, what comes to mind?I don’t know, for me it gives me peace. It gives me, like, I’m able to connect with my thoughts, with myself, especially this one, “The Portal.” It’s one of my favorites. I like this. Yeah, yeah, I. But this one just gives me, like, if I’m in front of it, I just feel some peace and from comments I’ve had last night, people feel the same way so it makes me happy.

Which one is your favorite?Actually, this is my favorite. Actually, the inspiration is my dad. So basically it’s called “Where the Hortensias Sing.” It’s very [personal to me], because it signifies that life is constantly moving. Everything shifts in life. My father has dementia now, so he doesn’t recognize me and my siblings. But his favorite flower has always been the hortensia, which is blurred here. It’s the pink area, because I wanted this to be like a tribute to him. And it’s just kind of shows that, you know, life is always moving and you just need to accept the things that happen and the things that that are given to you.

At the end of the day, there’s some kind of beauty because like I’m also getting to know a new person, my dad, but it’s not him anymore. He’s softer, he’s calmer. So it’s just showing that in the constant changes of life, you just have to learn to accept things even if it’s not planned for you.

Are you the type of type of artist who feels more creative when the pressure is high, or when you are in a more relaxed environment? It depends. I mean, sometimes when I’m stressed or angry, I don’t want to touch the paint brush, but sometimes it’s what helps me, like, in the strokes, you’ll see it’s more vibrant, more real. You have to, like, you know, what they say, when you have feelings, you need to acknowledge them, whether they’re good or bad. So that’s how you’re able to process. Because like real growth or real transformation within really happens when you allow things to happen to you.

If you if you block it or try to do something to cover up that feeling, you bottle everything up and then usually things turn ugly. So it’s really about, if you’re sad acknowledge that you’re sad and feel it. If you’re angry, acknowledge that you’re angry and allow yourself to feel it. So that’s really how I am. So I just, it’s not like, oh, I’m happy I’m going to go paint. Because sometimes I’m super happy and I have zero inspo.. So it’s really, I guess that’s an artist thing also. Or like even as a writer. I can’t say what ignites it, but it just happens.

What makes this part of you as a painter different from you being an actress? I guess I’m just being able to be myself at the most. Most of the time I’m not needing to explain why I do certain things or the way I do them. And just to allow people to have their own interpretation without the whole glitz and glam.

Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.

Your subscription has been successful.

Solenn’s “Into the Unseen Garden” is now on display at the Provenance Art Gallery in Rockwell, Makati from July 2 to August 30.