The Light Granaries
2002
4 sculptural elements fixed to the wall
transparent acrylic, aluminum, botanized plants, selected objects, halogen lighting
4 elements (200 x 70 x 110 cm each)
Centre de formation agricole, Saint-Anselme (Quebec, Canada)
documentation: – photo©Diane Landry
“Four lantern-sculptures two metres high light the narrow hallway connecting the old part of the centre with its newly expanded area. The shape of these aluminum-framed sconces, with shutters and upside-down staircases, recalls a granary lantern, church turret or dormer window of a country house. Their materials enclose a herbarium which shows the colourful advance of the seasons and harvest cycle. Blue alfalfa flowers for spring, apple peels for summer fruit, kernels of corn for autumn and white flour for winter were preserved for botanising and then sealed in transparent Lucite acrylic plastic. The artist plays with the ambiguity of the word grenier [granary], which can mean a storage place for grain, fertile farmland, but most obviously a space in the rafters where unsuspected treasures can sometimes be found. Hidden within each of these objects is a smaller object seen in silhouette, which we are left to discover and interpret. It may signify a potential to be made use of or represent a future promise, like a seed . . .”
Nicole Allard, Bilan 1999-2002 (excerpt), L’intégration des arts à l’architecture et à l’environnement, Ministry of Culture and Communications, Quebec, 2003
