Attracted very young by Taoist philosophy and Chinese ideograms, she spent a few months in China in 1980, at the Institute of Foreign Language in Beijing.

She met with Chantal Akerman in 1984 on the occasion of the theater adaptation of Letters Home: Correspondence 1950-1963 by Sylvia Plath which was played by Delphine Seyrig at the Petit théâtre de Paris.

[6][7] Nowadays Atherton is in charge of the conception and spatialization of Akerman's installations, which are presented on the occasion of exhibitions in the entire world.

Among them are Luc Decaster, Emilio Pacull, Noëlle Pujol, Andreas Bolm, Emmanuelle Demoris, Elsa Quinette, Christine Seghezzi, Christophe Bisson, Olivier Dury and Éric Baudelaire and many others.

In 2013, the Cinémathèque de Grenoble, France, organized an event dedicated to Atherton's work as film editor.