June 1-24, 2023
Off-site programming, Révélations Biennial
Archives personnelles recounts the past, present and future of five artists who, in their close relationship with the material, leave traces not only of their gestures but also of their presence, memories and reflections.
Tina Marais' work explores the trajectory of objects, intertwined with the delineation of borders. She immortalizes their intersections in finely constructed textile works that take on the appearance of complex cartographies. Materials become metaphors for human trajectories and migration.
The notion of provenance can also be found, in a different way, in the work of Helen Liene Dreifelds, who reflects on diasporic experiences by employing elements of her own Latvian culture. By juxtaposing symbols, images and materials, she questions the permeability of cultural practices and looks at their resistance and resilience, as well as their fluidity.
Katherine Boyer's work, also concerned with the notion of identity, exposes her sense of self shaped by various dichotomies, as a descendant of both Métis peoples and European settlers. The symbols of sun and sky, two distinct but mutually supportive elements, serve as a metaphor for her complementary identities. She blends beadwork, an indigenous craft, with construction techniques typical of Métis housing.
An artwork can also take on an archival dimension when the process of transforming the material itself is imbued with the artist's individuality. In the slow process of working coiled clay, Marissa Y. Alexander allows her thoughts and changing memories to intermingle and wander, and it is through the plasticity of the material and the passage of time that she transposes her fleeting recollections into her works. The point of departure and the point of arrival are sometimes offset, and the work is determined by the course taken between these two points.
Finally, Amber Zuber's work focuses on the process of transforming matter, and the artist's relationship with it. Through a series of folds, twists and stretches, she pushes the limits of clay, imprinting it with the traces of her body's movements.
Photos: Ateliers d’art de France
