‘Art has always been part of my life – every form of it. When I was growing up, we didn’t have a television, so we went to the movies all the time, especially to see Italian films. It was also the era of the French New Wave. We regularly attended the Festival d’Avignon, the Théâtre des Amandiers, and the Cartoucherie de Vincennes. Later, I became involved with the Théâtre des Deux Portes in Paris, a kind of community arts center. We traveled extensively. My parents weren’t collectors, and I was just as fascinated by local markets as I was by museums. Encountering everyday life and different cultures shaped the way I see the world.

‘The 1970s were also the years of my feminist engagement, which took on a different dimension after 2006. As the Raja Group grew, I realized I had the means to establish a foundation dedicated to women. We have since supported hundreds of nonprofit organizations, underground schools in Afghanistan, cooperatives across Africa, and the Maison des femmes de Saint-Denis. At the time, many people found that surprising. Then came MeToo.

‘Later, I met my partner, the architect Tristan Fourtine. One of our earliest memories together was seeing Miles Davis perform at the Palais des Congrès in 1983, and a visit to Fiac. At that point, though, we still weren’t collectors. In 2010, we settled in Bonnieux, in the Luberon, where we became friends with many artists. One day, we proposed creating an art center – a way to put down deeper roots in the region while sharing our passion for contemporary art.

‘We already had an idea and a name: “Da-tris”, a combination of our first names. What we still needed was a place. A friend told us that Maison Biehn was for sale. In the heart of L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, Michel Biehn had created a veritable cabinet of curiosities filled with antique textiles and unusual objects. It was perfect. We chose to focus on sculpture because we were drawn to materials, form, and space. Our inaugural exhibition, “Plural Sculptures” (2011), consisted entirely of loans from museums, galleries, and artists. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Since then, I have curated every exhibition, with Stéphane Baumet, the director of Villa Datris, joining me in 2017. We have exhibited the work of more than 1,000 artists. Every exhibition feels like a treasure hunt. I love the research, the momentum, and the conversations with museum directors, curators, journalists, and, of course, artists.

‘The 2012 exhibition, “Movement and Light”, explored kinetic art through figures including Jesús Rafael Soto and Carlos Cruz-Diez. Then came “Sculptrices”, a feminist exhibition that led us to begin systematically acquiring works from our exhibitions, creating a lasting memory of each one. In 2015, we invited Daniel Buren to transform the Villa Datris elevator into an exhibition space in its own right. Every year, we also install a work on the branch of the Sorgue river that runs behind the garden. This year, Laurent Perbos contributed Ibiza, a group of palm trees that deliberately plays on the title of the exhibition “Mediterranean: Contemporary Odysseys”, which addresses migration and exile.

‘The collection has grown in an unconventional, eclectic way around 15 different themes. Even so, there has always been a consistent thread, largely because I have remained the curator throughout. Some artists are internationally celebrated; others deserve to be better known. We first visited Art Basel in 2011, and we learned an enormous amount there. Tristan passed away in 2013, and, encouraged by friends and visitors alike, I decided to continue what we had started. In 2014, I opened the Espace Monte-Cristo near Père Lachaise in Paris, now directed by my son, Jules Fourtine, together with Pauline Ruiz. They carry forward the same spirit. Since 2018, its exhibitions have been drawn exclusively from the collection – currently “Voices of Silence”. The space has developed a strong identity of its own.

‘Today, Villa Datris has become an established part of the cultural landscape of southern France. We welcomed more than 70,000 visitors last year. We continue to expand our workshops and guided visits for people with disabilities and others facing difficult circumstances. Free admission allows young people and families to experience our exhibitions. We are committed to preserving that ethos in the years ahead. A recent acquisition? Three Venuses by Prune Nourry from the series she created for the Maison des femmes de Saint-Denis. They are currently on view at Espace Monte-Cristo. Projects like this create bridges between art, my foundation for women, culture, and education. In many ways, they bring me back to the ideals that shaped me in the 1970s – my own version of a house of arts and culture.’