Moonbump ^{2022 – Present}

Performative photography series across Amsterdam (NL), Marseille (FR), Chaville (FR)

"After graduating from art school, [Madeleine Elisabeth Peccoux] worked as a barista. She no longer had a studio, lost contact with friends from the art world, and felt isolated. Was she still an artist?" (Esther Darley, art historian and freelance writer).

Madeleine purchased a fake pregnant belly, known as a 'moonbump'. She occasionally had herself photographed wearing it at various professional photography studios. Later, she started wearing her bump throughout the entire day, to do grocery shopping or hang out with friends. She became the one thing she thought many people become when they don't know who they want to be or what they want to do.

Since then, Madeleine has been making her way through her twenties, and the work has taken on new layers of meaning and ambivalence as she has held various jobs, fallen in love a few times, and watched her relationships with family, purpose, work, art, and everything else change.

"[Madeleine Elisabeth Peccoux] was searching for a sense of mission in life and found a point of departure in the idea that parenthood confers a certain legitimacy. This also raised questions about motherhood and the inevitable choices associated with it. Moonbump (2022-ongoing) is a compilation of photographs from the past four years – a series in which only the face reveals the passing of time" (Esther Darley).

Categories
Collection, Ongoing, Performative, Photography, Research

Financially supported by
2026 Fonds Van Teet Luitgens, project-based grant, NL
2024 Mondriaan Fonds, Artist Start grant, NL

Exhibited
2026 Prospects, Art Rotterdam, Rotterdam, NL (Group Exhibition)
2025 The Spectacle of the Self, Kunstbar, Den Haag, NL (Group Exhibition)
2024 Limburg Biënnale 2024, Maastricht, NL (Group Exhibition)
2023 rester incertain·x·e, KRONE COURONNE, Biel/Bienne, CH (Group Exhibition)

Press
2026 "Prospects 2026", ArtViewer (exhibition documentation)
2026 Edo Dijksterhuis, "Deze kunstenares bindt geregeld een nepbuik om: ‘Het gaat niet over het krijgen van kinderen’", Het Parool, NL

Related to
IMDB madeleinepeccoux's deleted review of Pluribus
Bedroom Garden