women volcanoes forests torrents at MAC | Female perspective on our relationship with nature

For its spring program, the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC) presents women volcanoes forests torrentsan exhibition that highlights the work of nine women of different generations and origins living in Quebec, nine artists who are “great ambassadors of the visual arts”.

The statement is from guest curator and art historian Marie-Ève ​​Beaupré, and alludes to this exhibition which brings together people who, despite recognition in the visual arts community, had not yet had their just make way for the MAC.

Names like Sonia Robertson, Innu artist from Mashteuiatsh, alongside those of Anahita Norouzi, artist of Iranian origin and finalist for the 2023 Sobey Arts Prize, or Nelly-Eve Rajotte and Sabrina Ratté, artists important to the arts community multimedia. The exhibition thus confirms this notoriety while introducing, at the same time, these artists to a wide audience.

It is a horizontal and porous relationship between humans and nature which immediately marks women volcanoes forests torrents: “The works are all permeable to the relational fabric of non-human living things. The artists have a non-dominant vision in their relationship to the environment,” specifies the curator who was also the curator of the Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Montreal for almost eight years.

The projects echo each other; there is a closeness between them. Above all, the public is invited to take the time to grasp and reflect on all the subtleties of the works. “We wanted to create conversations and build connections,” says the woman who worked in collaboration with the artists for about two years to prepare this exhibition.

Like a walk in the forest

The exhibition women volcanoes forests torrents is designed as “a long walk in the forest”. The experience targets the whole body. The latter is involved and is on the lookout for different sensations. It is about thinking that the body is “something other than what our gaze can grasp”, according to Marie-Ève ​​Beaupré.

The public is first welcomed in the first room by the project Neotropical migrants (2018-2024), by Maria Ezcurra, where the picture rail is plastered with drawings of migratory birds in danger of extinction. These are made on boxes used for the circulation of goods.

This is followed by the redeployment in the space of Umiku Nekaui-Assi | Blood of mother earth (2014-2024), by Sonia Robertson, which raises visitors’ awareness of water as an essential resource.

If the elements of air and water are present at the beginning of the exhibition, fire and earth are also exploited in the video installation Archipelago of Earthen Bones (2024), by Malena Szlam, which presents visual and soundscapes of ancestral volcanic sites. The artist is careful not to show the summits of the volcanoes to avoid referring to an ascent towards domination. Visitors then discover the performative composition Behind closed doors/the expanse of our breaths, by Jacynthe Carrier. Images of dancers’ bodies enter into dialogue with the flow of a fall.

The second room opens onto the installation of suspended glass balls, Constellational Diasporas, by Anahita Norouzi. In these forms are seeds of Hogweed, a plant from Iran. The aim is to present, in a poetic way, the migratory story of this plant: recognized at the time for its virtues, it was then abandoned when it was no longer useful for trade and exploitation. colonial.

Plants are also the theme of the three videos which form Floralia, by Sabrina Ratté. Roses and hydrangeas are, in this case, reproduced in an imagined future, that is to say, digitized and archived so that their traces are preserved.

In another aim, an open relationship between the body and the geological elements is put forward in Rock Piece, by the artist asinnajaq, while in The sound of icebergs, by Caroline Gagné, it is about coming into contact, in close proximity, with an iceberg thanks to sounds and images.

The end of the journey attracts attention: the research-creation project Trees communicate with each other at 220 hertz, by Nelly-Eve Rajotte, includes a living lime tree in place in the exhibition room. And his contribution seems major: he is nothing less than the “creator” of the soundtrack of the images of the immersive environment created by the artist, like a musician DJ. To do this, a process captures the energy influx from the tree and transforms it into sounds.

The work shows that if a lime tree can live up to 1000 years and has several properties, it is generally not valued much in today’s society. The exhibition therefore attempts to modify our relationship with this leafy tree.

Awareness

If the exhibition embraces certain ecofeminist ideas, it is more about making these notions accessible through experience. So, women volcanoes forests torrents “leads us gently towards politics. It uses the sensitive to question the environment, ecology… which is usually done through science. There, it goes through emotions,” describes Bénédicte Ramade, art historian and guest curator of the Max and Iris Stern 16 International Conference at the MAC.

In short, the exhibition sends a clear message: museums must welcome reflective experiences as well as other forms of culture and not just western game, to use the words of Marie-Ève ​​Beaupré. It is about using warm and caring manners, with a non-hierarchical aim. Hence the lowercase letters, moreover, in the various names and titles of the exhibition. “We wanted to avoid all capital letters so as not to be in the hierarchy,” she explains again.

Marie-Ève ​​Beaupré wants to make these questions accessible to everyone, beyond nested theories: “We are currently going through a crisis of sensitivity. We are talking about a necessary restoration of life. “It’s an exhibition that embraces societal concerns that the museum has a responsibility to address.” And it is a tour de force, knowing that the MAC, by its geographical location at Place Ville Marie, a commercial and business campus, is anchored in the economy, which is often likely to erect boundaries between humans and living things.

women volcanoes forests torrentsat the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art until August 18, Place Ville Marie – Gallery Level

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