8 – MARIE-CLAUDE DE SOUZA
TRAVERSES
Marie-Claude De Souza presents a new work for this exhibition, created in situ with the participation of the public. In this new creation, entitled Traverses, she conducts an artistic investigation on the popular expression “the wrong side of the tracks” and proposes an exploration of the dual symbolism of the railway, which represents both a boundary and a connection. This participatory work is built using quotations from anglophones and francophones, mostly Pointe-Claire residents, but also from other Canadian cities. It strives to represent a certain linguistic territory through typographic play.
Materials: Non-skid vinyl tape.
Creative Process
Everything began with a poetic hitchhiking trip in which the artist and the motorist engaged with each other for a short distance. In exchange for these acts of kindness, the writer shared her words – a single poem – with her new acquaintance. This is how De Souza covered the 5,555 km distance from Saint-Augustin-de-Woburn to Sept-Îles, from Guadeloupe to Mont-Tremblant, from Gatineau to Trois-Pistoles… and from this experience came her reflection on words. De Souza seeks to democratize poetry and, to that end, she creates poetic works in the public space.
The Artist
Marie-Claude De Souza (Quebec City, Canada) is a passionate linguist. She is engaged in the world of art and co-founded Productions Langues pendues, a creative laboratory where literature and the speech arts are united. In 2015, she was one of Quebec’s representatives at the French Language World Forum in Liège, Belgium.
ARTIST’S WEBSITE
RELATED ACTIVITIES
Participative sessions with artists: Traverses with Marie-Claude de Souza
PHOTO CREDITS
Marie-Claude de Souza
