Celebrating  women …

COCOONS celebrates and honours women of all times.  From iconic acadian figures such as Évangeline to our sisters, daughters, aunts, mothers and grandmothers, all committed themselves, body and soul, to their families and communities.  This work involves sereral countries throughout the world, where it is meant to leave a memory trace of these women’s legacies as well as of the event of the 2014 World Acadian Congress.

The installation COCOONS offers a contemporary portrait of women.  The cocoon’s shape recurs in the work’s elements; the main piece, the cocoon baby, the twins and the ceramic shards, symbolizing the many generations of women.  One after the other, bloodline upon bloodline, women have embodied the gift of life and of self.  The bed of pebbles brings to mind the shores where many of these women landed or were left stranded.  As a bottle set upon the sea, each element set upon the pebbles bears a page of history.

The first cocoon was given to a 10-year old boy from Neiva, Columbia, who was in the region during the CMA2014.  Here he is holding his cocoon in the desert of Tatacoa in Columbia, a place where paleontological fossils can be found.  Strangely enough, the cocoon I gave him had an engraving of a small boy riding a dinosaur!

And here are the other places where cocoons landed:  Maui, Hawaii – Lafayette, USA – Louisiane, USA – Bradenton, Florida – Mahomet, USA – Chicago, USA – La Broquerie, Manitoba – St-Boniface, Manitoba – Quebec, Canada – Sudbury, Ontario – Manawan, Canada – Ottawa, Canada – Montreal, Canada – St-Anselme, NB – Gonaives, Haiti – Cap Haitien – Neiva, Columbia – La-Paz, Bolivia – Santiago, Chili – Mar del Plata, Argentina – La Plata, Argentina – Porto Alegre, Brazil – Marin, Martinique – Port-Louis, Guadeloupe – Saint John, NB – St-Leonard, NB – Moncton, NB – Cormier Village, NB – Bouctouche, NB – Abrams Village, PEI – Miscou Island, NB – Île de la Madelaine, Qc – Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, France – Lancashire, UK – Naarden, Holland – Bruxelles, Belgium – France – Couthium, Belgium – Sambreville, Belgium – Créteil, France – Saint-Nazaire, France – Beaumont, France – Saint-Étienne, France – Digne les Bains, France – Vallé d’Aoste, Italy – Fully, Switzerland –  Dakar, Sénégal – Japan –  Yokohama, Japan

The COCOONS installation is part of the Ciry of Edmundston’s Public Art Collection.  It is on permanent display at the Edmundston Art Center.
Photo of the artist with the work – 2014