Lucie Branco, stone mason

ACTIVE VULNERABILITY

L.B.’s dream—working with stone and becoming a Compagnon du Devoir – was born from a chance encounter with a group of young compagnons who revealed to her the joy of the craft. Lucie discovered her vocation, breaking out of her adolescent shell—one so timid that she could not even ask a passer-by for the time—and embarked on a daunting path.

The Compagnons were a strictly male-only institution; stone cutting was a man’s trade, in a man’s world. L.B.’s struggle became a personal initiatory journey, defined by her confrontation with both the material and the rigid rules of compagnonnage.

Fighting to be accepted into this centuries-old brotherhood of trades that had always excluded women, L.B. transformed her limiting passive fragility into reinforcing active vulnerability.

She entered a male-dominated, hostile territory. To be accepted, she set aside her femininity, adapting to the codes and behaviours of the worksite. She spoke like the men, drank like them, laughed at crude jokes, and even tolerated sexist remarks.

However, her passion for the craft gradually diminished her fear of being wounded, allowing her to stand her ground with her own convictions, values, and skills. She was vulnerable, but no longer fragile. She accepted the risk of being hurt, determined to carve out her place in that world and dismantle gender discrimination.

Her journey towards inclusion gave her a deep awareness and mastery of her own emotional framework.

Working with stone became inseparable from working on herself—turning her fragility into active vulnerability. She sought out the damaged stones of cathedrals, replacing them with new ones to restore the building’s former splendour. At the same time, she looked within, identifying her wounded and healing parts, reconnecting severed and broken pieces to restore wholeness to herself.

In 2004, the Compagnons opened their doors to women. L.B. was among the first three to be admitted.

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