TEDxHarvardSquare 2026
Martine Bertrand
Visual Artist & Designer
Creating the Alien Language in Arrival: Healing and Clarity
Martine Bertrand is a French-speaking visual artist from Montreal whose career extends internationally. Trained in textiles, she designed ballet costumes for major opera houses, including Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Paris National Opera, the Munich Opera, the Stuttgart Opera, and the Norwegian National Opera. Alongside her personal practice, she also works in the film industry. She is the artist behind the non-linear graphic language (logograms) of the extraterrestrials in Denis Villeneuve’s film Arrival. More recently, she also created murals and decorative elements for Dune and Dune: Part Two. Her works are held in public and private collections and has also been showcased at the Philadelphia Museum, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Wing Luke Museum in Seattle.