Work > St-Jean-Quebec

St Jean, Quebec
St Jean, Quebec
300 4” x 4” prints, rabbit's feet, cold roll steel, felt and video.
1998

"St-Jean, Quebec" is based on a large panoramic photograph dating of 1915 re-printed using lithography and screenprint. The photograph of a “Troupe Expeditionaire” was a still portrait of an historical moment. These men were going to put Quebec on an international level. Upon embarking on their voyage to England and then on to France they were representing a group who until then had no political or cultural weight.

The making of “St-Jean, Quebec” furthered my research in two distinct areas. First visually by stretching the position of printmaking as a tool for visual communication. Second by researching my own French Canadian heritage and its recent history.

“St-Jean, Quebec” is based on the discovery of a large 1915 panoramic photograph taken from St-Jean d’Hiberville’s archives. The photograph was of a particular battalion that was made up of seven hundred and fifty soldiers. With the help of this photograph I was able to research the lives of French Canadian men who were trained then sent away to Europe to fight the First World War. Two of my uncles, Octave and Alexandre were located somewhere in this photograph. As I searched for them I began to question their time and what it meant to be a French Canadian back then. I couldn’t help compare the historical reality of theirs and the current increasing political turmoil in mine.