Born in 1998 in Arras (Hauts-de-France), Thomas Lemire is a curator, art critic, and researcher whose practice is grounded in a sensitive, context-driven approach to curating – one that sits at the intersection of everyday narratives and social critique, with a particular attentiveness to affect, vernacular forms, and the politics of the ordinary. He makes exhibitions that engage with marginal and queer aesthetics, intimate histories, and local contexts, questioning systems of gendered, class-based, and moral representation. Participatory and site-conscious in nature, his work aims to offer audiences immersive, reflective experiences – exhibitions conceived as tools for popular education. His critical and theoretical writing examines the mechanisms of normalisation and social control, drawing attention to resistance, counter-narratives, and the possibilities of subversion. A graduate in curatorial studies from the Sorbonne and co-founder of the collective soap, he collaborates regularly with the temporary exhibitions department of MAC VAL – Musée d’Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne. Since 2024, he has been undertaking a three-year curatorial residency at the Jean-Collet Municipal Gallery in Vitry-sur-Seine. His current research centres on contemporary hygienism and its representations – specifically the ways in which minoritised bodies are consigned to the category of the “unclean” through colonial, class-based, and gendered logics. Through an ongoing cycle of exhibitions (The Washers, Coco Sour), critical writing, and documentary work, he examines how these imaginaries shape domestic and public spaces, and how they continue to inform social representations and cultural practices. Alongside this, he conducts action-research into ethics, responsibility, and alternative economies within the art world. He contributes to the Ethical Practices working group at C-E-A, where he is involved in the collective drafting of a curatorial and critical code of ethics, as well as the volunteer-led editing and distribution of a Survival Guide for Artist-Authors
TV People, from April 17 to June 28, 2026, Galerie municipale Jean-Collet, Vitry-sur-Seine.
With Anatole Chartier, Antoine Medes, Arthur Gillet, Jules Goliath, Samya Moineaud, Florent Texier, Marie Coutanceau, Solveig Burkhard, Vincent Burger.
Eternal Sunshine, from 16th January to 29th March 2026, Galerie municipale Jean-Collet, Vitry-sur-Seine.
With Audrey Prédhumeau & Marine Zonca.
The Washers, from April 26 to June 29, 2025, Galerie municipale Jean-Collet, Vitry-sur-Seine.
With Kenny Dunkan, Margot Bernard & Rose Bourdon, Marie Preston, Nato Bosc-Ducros, Nina Azoulay, Roxanne Maillet, Sacha Collin Rivière, Victor Andrea Gonzalez.
Coco Sour, from February 14 to April 6 2025, Galerie municipale Jean-Collet, Vitry-sur-Seine.
With Victoire Gonzalvez.
The Milky Way in a Bowl, 12 September to 27 octobre 2024, Galerie municipale Jean-Collet, Vitry-sur-Seine.
With Georges Juliette Ayrault and Louis Chaumier
Folklore, petrichor, inaugural curatorial residency exhibition, 17 May to 7 July 2024, Galerie municipale Jean-Collet, Vitry-sur-Seine.
With Aëla Maï Cabel, Ferruel & Guedon, Frederik Exner, Low Lov, Rose-Mahé Cabel, Youri Johnson
HUMAIN AUTONOME : ACCROCHAGE
a selection of works from the MAC VAL collection in conjunction with the forthcoming exhibition HUMAIN AUTONOME : DEROUTES (25 April to 22 September 2024), curated by Frank Lamy, assisted by Thomas Lemire, MAC VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine.
With Carole Benzaken, Elisabeth Ballet, Eric Dubuc, Eric Hattan, ERRÓ, Etienne Bossut, Jean Dewasne, Michel de Broin, NØNE FUTBOL CLUB, Peter Klasen, Peter Stämpfli, Pierre Ardouvin, Pierre Buraglio, Raymond Hains and Véronique Boudier.
Semblable à un petit os de seiche, curated by soap collective, 22-30 July 2023, Bétonsalon – Centre d’art et de recherche.
With Anna Giner, Audrey Prédhumeau, Claire Gitton, Hélène Janicot, Juliette Ayrault, Marine Ducroux-Gazio, Michelle Feeley, Nicole, Nina Azoulay, Victor Gonzalez
– “Depicting Gender-based and Sexual Violence (GBV) in Art: Navigating Taboos and Blind Spots,” a webinar featuring Camille Gharbi, Aurélie Foglia, and Aline Marchand, Wednesday, March 18, 2026, at La Maison des Artistes.
– Workshop “Situated Discourse and Artistic Practices”, preparatory class, EMA Vitry-sur-Seine, Monday 15 December 2025, Thursday 18 December 2025 and Friday 19 December 2025, EMA, Vitry-sur-Seine.
– “Aquatic Figures and Washerwomen”, talk between Rose Mahé Cabel and Thomas Lemire, Thursday 20th of March 2025, SOMA, research center, Marseille, France.
– “Histoires vraies” – Focus: Virginie Barré”, Sunday April 2, 2023, MAC-VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine, France.
– “Salt Water is Bitter”: the 14th edition of Istanbul Biennal”, symposium with Radhia Bouboune as part of a study day organized by Sorbonne University, Saturday, January 28, 2023, Fondation Pernod-Ricard, Paris, France.
– “The Sonamou Adventure. Sonamou ou Séoul à Paris, Korean Artists between France and Korea”, debate with Amélie Adamo, Aurélia Antoni, Pierre Cambon, Henri-François Debailleux and Thomas Lemire, Friday October 21, 2022, Korean Cultural Center, Paris, France.
– Masterclass Arts and Medias by Ingrid Luquet-Gad, organized by the Youth Arts Club (YAC), Wednesday, October 24, 2021, Espace Quand les fleurs nous sauvent, Paris, France.
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
Halfway between Reached Hands : Solidarity, Class Struggle, Vulnerabilities and Responsibility Among Art Workers, thesis in Curatorial Studies, thesis with high honors, under the direction of Alessandro Gallicchio and Clément Dirié, Sorbonne University, 2023.
The Death of Photography ? Imaginaries and Counter-narratives of Obsolescence in the Post-photographic Age, thesis in Philosophy and Art History with high honors, under the direction of Pauline Nadrigny and Michel Poivert, Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne University, 2022
PRESS
« NILS-UDO », interview, Artension Magazine, n°177, January-February 2023.
« Mettre au monde », revue d’exposition, Artension Magazine, n°175, September-October 2022.
« Sèves photographiques » dans dossier “Art & Végétal”, Artension Magazine, n°173, May-June 2022.
« Sabrina Vitali, chercheuse d’étincelles », Artension Magazine, n°172, March-April 2022.
« Klee des champs », compte-rendu d’exposition, Artension Magazine, n°171, January-February 2022.
CATALOGUES AND ESSAYS
“Georges Juliette Ayrault” and “Louis Chaumier”, Solo Hotel: I’m Grateful for the View… But this looks like a no-sex scenario, Aperto – Project Space de la Fondation Pernod Ricard, April 2025.
“What Oozes from the Wallpaper” and exhibition booklet texts, TV People, curatorial text, Galerie municipale Jean-Collet, Vitry-sur-Seine, 17 April 2026.
Exhibition booklet texts, Eternal Sunshine, curatorial text, Galerie municipale Jean-Collet, Vitry-sur-Seine, 16 January 2026.
“Bitter Lavender” and exhibition booklet texts, Les Lavandières, curatorial text, Galerie municipale Jean-Collet, Vitry-sur-Seine, 26 April 2025.
“Sweat & Sour” and exhibition booklet texts, Coco Sour, curatorial text, Galerie municipale Jean-Collet, Vitry-sur-Seine, 14 February 2025.
Critical texts, “Des yeux plein les poches”, Villa Belleville, 12–17 December 2024, with Léna Aboukrat, Parisa Babaei & Lovy Bumma, Lucile Boutin, Vincent Burger, Marianne Dupain, Tessa Hollman-Gustin, Nina Jayasuriya, Mohamed Abdelmoumene, Andrea Marcellier, Samya Moineaud, Nina Azoulay, Antoine Conde, WEI Libo and Naomi Feigelson, resident of the Laboratoire Culinaire.
“Dotted Star Trail Theory” and exhibition booklet texts, The Milky Way in a Bowl, curatorial text, Galerie municipale Jean-Collet, Vitry-sur-Seine, 12 September 2024.
Exhibition text, La Ponte, curated by Jean-Louis Bâ Pouillès & Nàto Bosc-Ducros, Espace nonono, Montreuil, April 2024. With Nina Azoulay ; Tatiana Da Silva Vaz ; Jean-Louis Bâ Pouillès ; Mona Cara ; Colombine Coissard ; Nora Freynet ; Maceo Goy-Clairet ; Philippine Joyeux ; Abbey Maya ; Thomas Lemire ; Aurelie Mathigot ; Matthias Valigny Sabbagha ; Beatrix Johnstone Khünert ; Isabelle Arnardi & Charlotte Arnardi
“Faeries Rings”, Folklore, pétrichor, curatorial text, Galerie municipale Jean-Collet, Vitry-sur-Seine, 17 May 2024.
“Les Lavandières: Petite histoire de fantômes sur les machines à laver, le trauma transgénérationnel, le folklore des campagnes françaises et les eaux grises”, essay, catalogue of the exhibition “Semblable à un petit os de seiche”, soap (ed.), Paris, July 2023.
Catalogue of artists of the Association des artistes Sonamou, 2022.
– “BAEK Seungsoo”, p. 26-27.
– “KIM Hyeong Jun”, p. 56-57.
– “CHO Sun Young”, p. 114-115.
– “KIM Mona Young Eun”, p. 126-127.
« Against the Blind Seeing: the visual culture of chaos according to Ellis Laurens », Opium Philosophie no. 10, print journal, 2022.
“Vestige(s) photographique(s)”, L’être-lieu no. 14, print journal, 2022, p. 14-17.
“Penser après le viol”, Opium Philosophie, web journal, 1 Feb. 2021.
“Dialectique du virtuel”, L’être-lieu no. 12, print journal, 2020, p. 61-65.
“Sabrina Vitali. Performance et vêtement : une expérience intérieure”, L’être-lieu no. 11, print journal, 2019, p. 46-47.
OTHER WRITINGS
Survival Guide for the Art Workers, self-published, 2023.
2024/2025 : ArTeC + inter-university diploma in Creative Research, Université Paris Nanterre and Paris 8.
2022/2023 : Master Degree in Contemporary Art and Curating, Sorbonne Université, with highest honors.
2020/2022 : Master Degree of Arts (M.A) in Philosophy and Art History, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, with highest honors.
2017/2020 : Bachelor’s degree of Arts (B.A) in Art History and Archeology, Université de Lille, with highest honors.