La promenade des Labubus Céphalophoriques sur le Camino de Santiago

collage and gouache  21”h, 20”w  2026

Saint Jacques (Saint James the Greater) was the first apostle to be martyred, beheaded by order of King Herod Agrippa I in Jerusalem around 44 CE. According to tradition, his disciples transported his body by boat to Galicia in northwestern Spain, where he is believed to be buried at Santiago de Compostela. Saint Jacques is typically portrayed as both apostle and pilgrim, often identified by the scallop shell. A cephalophore—literally “head carrier”—is a saint who, after martyrdom by beheading, is said to have miraculously carried their own severed head while continuing to walk, pray, or preach toward their final resting place.Although Saint Jacques is not considered a cephalophore, he is the patron saint of the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage route that commemorates many martyred saints along its path. In this work, martyred Labubus journey along the Camino, accompanied by smaller support Labubus. The Tour Saint-Jacques appears as architectural pillars sustaining the Rue Saint-Jacques—the oldest street in Paris and the start of the trek—constructed from maps cut into scallop shell forms, echoing the enduring symbol of Saint Jacques and pilgrimage.

• Gouache
• Maps