Yann Perreau is a writer, art critic, and curator. He founded the nomadic space Here Is Elsewhere and is an associate director at The Hole. He has published several books on climate, anonymity, art, and more. He has served as a cultural attaché for both the French Embassy in London and the French Consulate in Los Angeles. A writing fellow at Human Bridges, he holds an MPhil in art history from Paris’s EHESS.
Essay 
Niki de Saint Phalle’s SoCal Dreams by Yann Perreau
Niki de Saint Phalle embodied the art of self-reinvention. Fate led her to the West Coast in the sixties as the site of her last incarnation, where she brought her practice—which has historically been misrepresented—to sublime heights up to her passing in 2002. Across the deserts of San Diego and Las Vegas and the hills of Malibu, the Franco-American artist produced exuberant, monumental works with a signature vitality that set her apart from her Nouveau Réalisme male contemporaries. Through Saint Phalle’s oeuvre and conversations with her inner circle, Yann Perreau examines the draw of the region, her personal challenges, and a timely renewed interest in her work.