Created on the two façades of the former Piène-Basse customs house, Mémoires croisées draws its inspiration from the history of a region deeply shaped by the shifting borders between France and Italy. Drawing on archives, accounts and the memories of local residents, the artist TAROE has created a work in which individual stories intertwine with collective memory.
The railway station and line, the hydroelectric power station, the figure of a customs officer and the mountainous landscape all become fragments of a visual narrative inspired by the valley’s history and identity. The colour palette itself echoes the light, the water, the mineral tones and the vegetation of the landscape. Once a place of border control and transit, the former customs house thus becomes a space for transmission and dialogue, where traces of the past resonate with contemporary perspectives and experiences.