Souffles tombés (Fallen Breaths)
Curated by Manel Benchabane
Presented in Stewart Park
Stewart Hall Art Gallery, Pointe-Claire, QC
Summer 2024 to Spring 2025
Cut down to its trunks, a damaged willow tree forms a kind of shelter where one can take refuge. In the summer it forms a leafy thicket, while in the winter it offers a frame through which to observe the river. Since 2021, Anne-Marie Proulx has befriended this tree that, week after week, has introduced her to the family of other living beings that surround it. Throughout the seasons, she documents her connection to the tall grasses, the flowering sweet clover and goldenrod, the foxes and bumblebees, the movement of the tides and the migrating birds that fly overhead. The series of photographs that resulted from these multiple encounters provides an emotional and sensorial framework that reminds us of our own relationships with the natural world, which despite its blows, maintains the will to live. Now it’s our turn to contemplate the environment of the Stewart Park with renewed attention and fresh eyes.
Special thanks to Manel Benchabane who invited me to present this work in such a beautiful environment.
Installation views : Alexis Bellavance