ARTIST RESIDENCIES

A territory in the service of creation

With the aim of nourishing their work by immersing themselves in a small piece of the Gaspé, a duo of artists and three single artists did residencies before the start of the second edition of Rencontres.

Gabor Szilasi

After Portraits marsois, which he shot in 2010 in Haute-Gaspésie, Gabor Szilasi settled in the Gaspé for a month this year and documented his journey from the Matapedia Valley to Percé, not neglecting to explore the Baie-des-Chaleurs. In 2012 we will be exhibiting the whole of this work by also issuing a publication: La Gaspésie de Gabor Szilasi.

Florence Le Blanc

Doing a scouting and picture-taking residency in Carleton-sur-Mer from May 25 to 29, 2011, Florence Le Blanc created an outdoor photo work for Rencontres internationales de la photographie en Gaspésie. The project was carried out in partnership with Centre d’artistes Vaste et Vague, who in turn exhibited other of the young artist’s photos collected under the title Dissidence mobilière (Movable Dissidence)..

Sophie Jean and Jean-François Bérubé

Sophie Jean wanted to continue her women’s-portrait work by focusing on the ones in the Gaspé who, thanks to their strength in living and loving, make the peninsula a one-of-a-kind place. How to translate their humanity into pictures was a huge challenge for a young artist, and she called on Jean-Francois Bérubé to act as her mentor in this exploratory photo project, entitled Gaspésiennes (Women of the Gaspé). This residency, which ran from June 4 to 14, was the third in the 2011 Rencontres.

Dan Bergeron

Toronto artist Dan Bergeron was in residence in the town of Chandler from July 6 to 10, 2011. He shot a series of public portraits entitled Chandler: Les portraits en papier (Chandler, the Portraits on Paper), taking as his subject former workers at the Gaspesia pulp and paper company. The project tackled the questions of identity and displacement connected to the closing of the plant, as well as the sense of pride that still exists in this human story.

Background photo : Gabor Szilasi