Joy Sorman: "I Will Never Become a Wild Artist Like Irène Gérard"

In an interview, writer Joy Sorman discusses the genesis of her latest book, "Raw Life," the fruit of extended time spent at a raw art center located in Belgium.

Sorman explains her writing method, which she refines with each new book: immersing herself over time within a specific place to observe and capture its internal dynamics, rather than relying on distant research.

This approach led her to meet Irène Gérard, a neuroatypical artist whose work and presence within the center clearly struck the author, shaping the entire book.

When asked about her relationship to so-called "raw" artistic creation—a term designating works produced outside established art circuits, often by people without formal academic training—Sorman asserts that she could never become herself a wild artist like those she observes, emphasizing a conscious distance between her position as a writer and that of the artists she describes.

"Raw Life" thus continues Sorman's body of work, known for works constructed around prolonged immersion in specific professional or social worlds, explored in her previous books.

The book thus offers a perspective on raw art through the lens of a human encounter, rather than through a strictly theoretical or historical approach to the movement.