EXHIBITION
and PUBLICATION
The public is invited to see the results of this intense experimentation at
the solo exhibition being presented at the Centre SAGAMIE, from April 9 to
24, 2009. SAGAMIE Édition d’art have also published a book which
traces the evolution of this project and which will be launched on the opening
night of the exhibition, Thursday, April 9, at 5:00 pm. The text which accompanies
Mayer’s work is written by Jean-François Caron.
The following is an excerpt from that book:
“Like many photographic artists, Eva Mayer is interested in the themes
of death and disappearance. This may be due to the nature of photography itself.
By appearing to extract a subject from the passage of time and immobilising
it on the path of ineluctable destiny, the photograph seems to simulate eternity.
But this is only an illusion because the photograph does not in fact capture
the being of the subject but, rather, a trace that the subject has left behind.
This is how the poet René Char approached his work, claiming that the
poet must leave behind only the traces of his passing, not the evidence and
only traces allow us to dream. What Char is describing here is not only poetry,
but any work of art. Taking this idea a step further, François Soulages
sees in the photograph the tension created between the traces left by a subject
and the spectator’s reverie. For Mayer, however, the dream exists before
the picture is even taken, permeating the special relationship she establishes
with her subjects.
Although photography may be incapable of furnishing the proof of existence
per se and must content itself with an acknowledgement of the disappearance
of what it sets out to represent and with the residual mystery, it remains
nevertheless open to the limitless possibilities of fiction. Seen in this
light, photography does not capture the subject at a particular instant among
many in a nondescript daily routine, but rather it reveals the subject as
the subject imagines himself to be at a certain point in his own fable. It
does not capture being itself, but rather the transformations of being, modifying
its environment, and this metamorphosis is on-going as one continues to look
at the photograph and attempts to put it into words.”
Jean-François Caron
ARTISTIC
RESIDENCY
In collaboration with the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec
(the Quebec Council for the Arts), Langage Plus and the Centre
SAGAMIE are pleased to present a new International Residency Program
in Alma as part of the Pépinières européennes pour jeunes
artistes.
The Austrian artist Eva Mayer is the first to take part in this year’s
program in Alma. She was the recipient of a CALQ grant allowing her to spend
three months working on her project entitled Tous les jours sont des adieux
(The days are each a farewell) in close collaboration with the local community.
After meeting with more than a dozen senior citizens and taking the time to
establish close ties with them, the artist used them as subjects in a series
of photographs combining the immediacy of documentary with designed arrangements.
The latest digital imaging technology was then used to extend and transform
the photographic compositions.
