Text by Marie-Eve Beaupré, guest curator

femmes volcans forêts torrents is a collective exhibition with works of asinnajaq, Jacynthe Carrier, Maria Ezcurra, Caroline Gagné, Anahita Norouzi, Nelly-Eve Rajotte, Sabrina Ratté, Sonia Robertson et Malena Szlam. femmes volcans forêts torrents features nine women artists, currently living in Québec, whose works are permeable to the territories that they investigate. Attentive to the natural elements before their eyes and the living communities with which they interact, these artists root their reflections in various ecosystems, from the waters of the St. Lawrence River to the soils of the tundra.

They make us aware of the power of water and let us hear the heartbeat of the earth and the pulse of volcanos. And they remind us that trees in forests communicate with each other, that migratory birds bear the histories of diasporas, that each plant carries the weight of the travels of its species, that all humans sustain a torrent within themselves.

International Archives 1st half of 2024

femmes volcans forêts torrents

MAC at Place Ville Marie, Montreal (Canada)

11.04 - 18.08.2024

Précédent Suivant

Français

Deutsch

Nelly-Eve Rajotte, Les arbres communiquent entre eux à 220 Hertz (arrêt sur image), 2024

Each in their own way, the works by these nine women are permeable to the relational fabric of nature and non-human life. These artists transgress the productivist, extractivist, or dominant conception of connections with the environment. They renew the spatial-temporal dimensions of fixed and moving images, fertilize our relationship with the world with other epistemologies, and pay particular attention to the affective and invasive properties of the elements. All highlight the porous links between the subjects addressed and the material aspects of the medium.

Their research probes the connections and divisions that have built borders and cultures and explore how these have modeled our perception and hierarchized conceptions of nature. They attend to, and sometimes tend to, the relationship among nature, ecology, and society, in a way that challenges definitions, cartographies, and dominant representations of nature that shape contemporary culture and geopolitics.

At a time when the disappearance of wild territories and wetlands is accelerating, when the number of non-human living species is plummeting, we must bring to light the amplified traces of their sounds and their fragile presence.

Although art cannot solve today’s ecological problems, these works offer us opportunities to re-establish our attention and make up for our lack of sensitivity and knowledge with regard to the diversified living world, which needs us to listen to and respect it.

Sabrina Ratté, Floralia, 2021

They make us aware of the fragility of water; have us listen to the heartbeats of Earth and the pulse of volcanoes; and remind us that trees communicate with each other in forests, that migrating birds bear stories of diaspora, that each plant bears the marks of its species’ displacements, that all human beings contain torrents within them.

Today, as the glaciers slowly melt, as the number of non-human living beings is dwindling, we must expose and amplify the traces of their noises and their fragile presence as a form of clearly perceptible warning. Although art cannot solve today’s ecological problems, these works offer us opportunities to make up for our inattention and lack of sensitivity to the diverse worlds of the living.

Exhibition 11 April - 18 August 2024. Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Place Ville Marie (corner streets Mansfield et Cathcart) -Montréal (Québec) H3B 2B6 (Canada). T. 1 514 847-6226. Hours: Tue-Fri: 11-30 : 19.00. Sat: 11:00 - 18:00. Sun: 11:00 - 17-30. Closed on Monday