Ciels racines (root skies)
with Catherine Arsenault, Jacynthe Carrier, Hannah Claus, Marie-Michelle Deschamps, Caroline Gagné, Andréanne Godin, Maryse Goudreau, Natalie Jean, Dominique Pétrin, Manon Sioui, Leila Zelli, and with the participation of Céline Béland.
Arprim, Montréal
2022
We enter this garden from the southeast. The glare of the bright sunlight impresses little spots in the back of our eyes. Closing them, they look like constellations. We can almost imagine them giving off a pleasant scent, like the faint, faraway perfume of linden flowers. Life develops where it chooses, and if we get close enough, we can actually hear it grow. The sky and the earth make us larger, act as extensions of ourselves in all directions, making us see what part of us exists outside of ourselves, and what part of the universe exists inside of us. This garden is actually thirteen gardens, and actually much more, since they have been passed down to us. Their vision extends both to the far away and the very close. They die a little in order to go on living. Over there, flowers grow even in the shade. Here we can become trees, or try to catch a bird’s-eye view of ourselves, and see that our skies have entagled roots.
Ciels racines [root skies] is a garden composed of thirteen women, artists, authors, friends, mothers and daughters. In continuity with her photographic book Le jardin d’après, in which the voices and presences of women multiply, Anne-Marie Proulx now wished to welcome even more of them into the project. In it, the notion of garden becomes not only a motif for representation, but especially a place of friendships, of transmission and of rooting, an opportunity for the sharing of times and spaces, of forms and ideas.
Catherine Arsenault — creatures on the ground, from L'ordre des choses (sculptures)
Jacynthe Carrier — flowers and girls in the garden (assemblage of photographs)
Hannah Claus — skies (photographs)
Marie-Michelle Deschamps — specimens and support (enamel work and sculpture)
Caroline Gagné — ambiant sound, vibrations and rock, from Bruire (installation sonore)
Andréanne Godin — cherry branch supporting branches in the snow, secrets (drawings)
Maryse Goudreau — The apple trees bear the names of my friends and family; here is Anne-Marie (photograph on vinyl) et Cut before the dismantling of the family orchard (apple crate and video)
Natalie Jean — Forest, my garden (texts)
Dominique Pétrin — camouflages (photographs on plywood, on the ground and against the wall)
Manon Sioui — flowers (assemblages of drawings, photos, corn husk and oak cupules)
Leila Zelli — Comme un arbre (video) et bird (drawing)
Céline Béland — our suns and our moons (drawings)
Anne-Marie Proulx — the garden (mural hotograph), vines (curtain), teared pages from Le jardin d'après, willow stems, logs, mirrors, nests, dried flowers, books, as well as seeds and bell offered by Caroline.
Photos : Jean-Michael Seminaro (views) and Anne-Marie Proulx (photos of texts)
Acknowledgements to the Canada Council for the Arts for its support. Maryse Goudreau's video was created in collaboration with the permanent group of artists of Théâtre PÀP, l’Ensemble. Dominique Pétrin’s photos were taken by Paul Litherland. Source of Leila Zelli’s video: https://fb.watch/aD8911XAXY
