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PUBLISHED ARTICLES

LE DEVOIR  THE INTERVIEW – A PERSPECTIVE ON THE GASPÉ

Claude Goulet sows photographs all along Route 132

Between the shadows of the open water, the stones polished by the sea and the blue of the sky, anyone visiting the Gaspé in August will also see, all along the peninsula, photographs installed from one village to the next as part of the second edition of Rencontres internationales de la photographie en Gaspésie. Over the last few days, the master of this singular event, Claude Goulet, has been speeding along Route 132 to finish mounting the works of some 30 high-level photographers in time.

Hang on a minute, I’m stopping the car so I can talk to you!” Claude Goulet, it has to be said, doesn’t stop very often. He travels this country continually, largely because of his passion for photography. These last few days, the founder of Rencontres internationales de la photographie en Gaspésie has already made two tours of the peninsula to ensure that the installation of the works by the photographers selected for this second edition of an event that spreads out over more than 600 kilometers is done as effectively as possible. So it has to be done on wheels, between the sea air and mountain air, this discovery of 30 photographers brought together until September 12 in 13 different municipalities. Where does the ambitious idea of holding an event like this come from? “From love!” he says, laughing. “One day I came to the Gaspé and I met the woman I’ve been living with for seven years. I set up house in the area, and resolved to do something here that really appeals to me.” Of course, the fragile flower of love never comes from the some place where it decides to grow.

Before settling down in the Gaspé, Goulet was already a regular in the world of culture, having worked in the area of music production. “When I traveled to France for my job, I always made time to visit photo festivals as well.”

For years, then, he strode back and forth as a curious fan through the old hangars and different buildings in Arles, in the south of France, a series of improbable spaces that nonetheless house, every summer, a very important photography festival. Enthusiasts and professionals from around the world flock to it.

“In Arles I met Jean-Daniel Berclaz of the Musée du Point de Vue. Since 1997 Berclaz has organized a photo event centered around the landscape. Photographers taking part present their work on the same spot where it was done.” In this museum with no fixed address, Berclaz examines the places as much as the photography. He adapts to the places where he installs works, performing an examination of the sites through that very process.

Claude Goulet was enchanted by this iconoclastic take on photography. “I told myself I could adapt that in my own way, in the Gaspé, where I live.”

On the road

In Paspebiac, the photographs of Larry Towell, member of the prestigious Magnum agency, are presented outside, on large panels. “These are photos that are highly characteristic of his output, taken from a project done on the Mennonite community and one on his family life, the latter a series entitled ‘The World from My Front Porch.’”

Not far from there, the work of Gabor Szilazi, dean of art photography in Québec, is displayed indoors this time, at the historical site of Banc-de-Pêche. “Szilazi is taking advantage of a photographer residency as part of the event. We thought in this case that the work would come off better under a roof.”

What else has he sown on his path? “Now I’m headed towards Chandler, where there’s an installation of the works of Jean-François Leblanc.” In this series, the contributor to the newspaper Le Devoir has devoted himself to the native peoples of Bolivia. An other regular contributor to Le Devoir, François Pesant, is also among the guests of this year’s Rencontres internationales de la photographie de la Gaspésie. “In Chandler,” Claude Goulet continues, “we’re also presenting ‘Les Portraits en papier,’ dedicated to the Gaspesia workers, on the very site of the former mill.”

In Matapedia, on the walls of the church, large photos of Haiti, taken after the disaster of January 12, 2010, attract all kinds of attention. “These 25 photos by Roger Lemoyne take on a special meaning, joined as they are to the walls of a church, in other words in place of the religious in this tragedy,” explains Claude Goulet. In 2010, the morning after the devastating hurricane, Lemoyne set off to photograph the streets of Port-au-Prince in color. This year the outstanding Montreal photographer traveled to Cairo during Arab spring, at the very moment when the population was rising up against its present-day pharaoh.

In Gaspé, still on the Egyptian trail, it’s impossible to avoid the photographs of Benoît Aquin, a world traveler with a modern and remarkable way of seeing things. Aquin journeyed up the Nile, on the trail of the life that water makes possible. And he grew interested in the shock of modern life meeting the old world. For the works of Dave Andersen, a photographer who hails from the southern U.S., Goulet used the covered bridge in Petite-Vallée. Andersen’s exhibit, “Rough Beauty,” was greeted with enthusiasm by American critics before becoming the material for a book that has been translated into three languages. “It’s striking, the ambience that this provides for these very serious photos,” says Claude Goulet, with a glimmer of satisfaction in his voice.

All along Route 132, “every place where photography is on display, there are projection evenings with the photographers in attendance. The whole population can attend. Everyone’s invited to come and hear the photographers talk about their work, very informally.”

We should mention many of the other photographers present, at least the work of Isabelle Eshraghy, devoted to the status of women. “No one can get enough of her! Everyone wants to talk to her, her work’s so powerful!” There’s also the extraordinary Serge Clément, in Marsoui, before his new works get to be seen this fall at Galerie Simon Blais [in Montreal].

Educating the eye

Claude Goulet stresses the importance of the educational aspect of an event like this. “We’re very keen for schools to be involved, for the eyes of young people to develop through our activities. We work hard on this component, which includes workshops for youngsters at the primary and secondary levels.”
Over the years, a number of writers, painters and photographers have found a land that nourishes their work in the Gaspé. Even Paul-Émile Borduas allowed himself to be tempted by photography there. Until October 2, the Musée régional de Rimouski is reminding us, thanks to an exhibit by Bertrand Carrière, that the great American photographer Paul Strand (1890-1976) visited the Gaspé on two occasions to practice his art. “We still haven’t collaborated with that excellent museum,” says Claude Goulet. “But,” he adds, with confidence in his new land’s cultural future, “we’d like to do something with them in the years ahead.”

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L'ACTUALITÉ    THE OTHER TOUR OF THE GASPÉ

Isabelle Grégoire  August 12, 2011