Opening: August 29, 2024, 5 to 7 pm
Exhibition: August 29 to October 6, 2024
Following a collaboration with native women who were invited to embroider their wounds in the hope of transcending them, Virginia Pesemapeo Bordeleau tackles a sororal and personal needlework project. In the foreground, a target to represent a marksman’s eye in the scope, behind which is sometimes a warrior woman, sometimes a child. With them, a psychopomp animal guiding their souls towards light and peace. The artist hands us the weapon and places our index finger on the trigger. Opposite us, in focus, the missing and murdered. A plunge into the depths of collective discomfort, a reminder of violence for as long as it takes.
Renowned for her politically engaged practice, Pesemapeo Bordeleau never fails to invite us into her shrewdly denunciatory work. “As long as it doesn’t affect us, we don’t feel concerned…”. How can we avoid falling into the cycle of oblivion and make memory inextinguishable? That’s what she tries to instill in this stunning installation. In a delicate aesthetic, Pesemapeo punches us in the gut, and she’s relentless. The result is a schizophrenic dialogue with oneself about the notion of denial. Restoring dignity to the disappeared and murdered, continuing the struggle begun with Poésie en marche pour Sindy, is what this intranquil installation is all about.
