Light Memories

Light Memories
2004
translucent mural
transparent acrylic, stainless steel, candy-wrapping paper
2 sections (500 x 5 cm each), height between 70 and 160 cm
Centre de formation professionnelle en alimentation et tourisme de Charlesbourg, Quebec City (Quebec, Canada)
documentation: – photo©Diane Landry 

Running the length of the wide bay window of the main lobby, shutters 7.6 cm wide obstruct our view of the large kitchen. The shutters are made of sheets of transparent acrylic between which candy-wrapping paper has been inserted. When seen from below, these shutters create an astonishing accumulation effect. Placed at a 45-degree angle, the shutters follow the lines of the transoms designed by the architect.

            Ever since Proust’s madeleines, we have known that taste can set memory in motion. It’s as if the pleasure of taste is inscribed in our brain as something sweet dissolves in our mouth. Using multi-coloured candy-wrapping paper, I try to create a radiating effect whose various tangents can also evoke, schematically, the geographical design of the Trait-Carré historical site in Charlesbourg. The numerous wrappings appear to levitate and project in all directions in a relatively symmetrical manner. The choice of hues leads us through a series of colours corresponding to the light spectrum. We thus move from blue to green, then gingerly come to yellow, orange, red and, finally, a brownish shade. This chromatic effect harmonises with the extensive pink shade of the terrazzo floor tile. The scale of pointillism that results is high contrast, but the reference remains.