6 degrés, territoires de narration | Epistolary, feminist, and committed project

Artists: Julie Lassonde, Sophie Dumesny, Éveline Boudreau, Noémie Roy, Laura Demers, Saïda Ouchaou-Ozarowski , Martine Côté, Habibata Ouarme, Chantal Leblanc, ImageFatale aka Karen Vanderborght and Shahla Bahrami

Le Labo – 401 Richmond Street West studio 277, Toronto

Exhibition from March 8 to March 31, 2024

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6 degrés, territoires de narration is a participatory artistic event that explores identity, dissects intimacy, and challenges the obscure boundaries of patriarchy through the magic of words.

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Brought together under the curation of Dyana Ouvrard, Canadian women artists including Noémie Roy, Julie Lassonde, Éveline Boudreau, Sophie Dumesny, Laura Demers, Eléonore Donati, Saïda Ouchaou Ozarowski, Martine Côté, Habibata Ouarme, Chantal Leblanc and ImageFatale intersect their pens in a poignant narrative. This participatory project, noticed during Nuit Blanche Toronto 2023, involves the public, inviting them to continue the correspondence and amplify the voices of women refusing to be silenced.

These words, like shards of truth, explore burning themes such as freedom, sharing, feminism, and struggles within our contemporary society. At the heart of this gathering, Shahla Bahrami‘s committed media work comes to life, seamlessly integrating into the collective installation.

The exhibited works reveal fragments of lives, shards of truth, evoking a deep resonance of justice. Each word and each line composes a note in the symphony of compassion, calling for the cultivation of a desire to participate in a common project, the advent of a new democracy.

The exhibition offers a reassuring idea, that the voices resonating here are not just heard, but understood with an attentive posture. It is an anthem to mutual understanding, a celebration of the diversity of experiences. In one year, this artistic manifestation has evolved into a grand collective odyssey, where the light of intimate speech blends with complexity and vulnerability, connecting each human being through these six degrees of knowledge in a universal resonance.

The exhibition, which will take place from March 8 to March 31 in the Labo space, represents the culmination of an artistic event that unfolds in various highlights.

« Listening is a complex art, and I’ve learned that the exhibition space is among the instruments. »

Janet Cardiff, Canadian artist

Regarding the initiating artists

Noémie Roy is an author, multidisciplinary artist, and teacher. She has contributed to some issues of Exit et Zinc magazines. In 2021, she publishes her first poetry collection ‘Parmi celles qui flambent’ (Les Herbes rouges). Born in Quebec, she moves to Oshawa in 2022. While exploring the intersections of provinces, disciplines, and literary genres, her work consistently delves into various facets of transformation: aging, healing, care, always with the need to connect with oneself, others, and the world.

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Julie Lassonde is a performance artist from Montreal with a focus on various subjects such as gender, intimacy, socio-legal norms affecting daily life, and performance-related processes, such as repetition. Trained in physical mime, Julie has presented solo performances and improvisations in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, Victoria, Berkeley, San Francisco, and Edinburgh. Julie will be performing alongside A.M. Matte on Thursday, March 23, 2023, at 7:00 PM for the opening of the Transforming Grief exhibition at the Fort York Visitor Centre.

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Sophie Dumesny is a multidisciplinary artist who loves experimenting with various mediums. Her curiosity and adventurous spirit guide her artistic exploration. Media art holds a special place in her work, and she has been passionate about cinema since childhood. She is currently developing her first feature-length documentary, La Censure du Poil, which explores taboos around female body hair, thanks to a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts.

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Éveline Boudreau is a multidisciplinary artist currently working in performance art. During her performances, Boudreau introduces themes, and conversations unfold between her and participants. Collaborative and reflective processes emerge during these interactions. The subjects she addresses revolve around identity, technology, and violence against women. These are her concerns that she shares, questions, and conveys during her encounters.

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Laura Demers is a Franco-Ontarian artist and independent curator based in Toronto. She holds a BFA from the University of Ottawa (2015) and a Master’s in Art History and Theory from the University of Toronto (2017). Through her artistic and curatorial work, she explores questions surrounding urban and rural ecologies, the use of space and resources, situated knowledge and its transmission, and reflects on the changing materiality of our environment. She is a co-founder of the self-managed gallery the plumb.

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Saïda Ouchaou-Ozarowski recently relocated to Toronto after 20 years in Vancouver. Her first film, Pluri’Elles, explores the experiences of Francophone women from Southern countries and was broadcast on Radio-Canada. Her exploration of Canada’s cultural richness is evident in Demain, nous parlerons tous chinois. Her latest film, À pleine voix, produced by the NFB, dismantles common prejudices about women from Muslim cultures in Canada. Population movements, multiple identities, and women’s issues are at the heart of her work.

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Martine Côté, born in Quebec in 1981, is a photographer. She captures the tranquility and essence of the land, expressing calm and peace in her shots. Graduated in saxophone from the Conservatoire de musique de Québec, she later obtained a Bachelor’s degree in commerce, opening doors to communications. Endowed with a critical eye towards image and message, photography becomes her natural path. Inspired by the winter landscapes of Quebec and artists such as Rita Letendre, Jean-Paul Lemieux, Bernd and Hilla Becher, she adopts a rigorous approach, merging her musical background with her expertise in communication. .

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Habibata Ouarme, an emerging Canadian filmmaker of Ivorian and Burkinabe origin, has received a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts for her next project, « 1001 Couronnes Pour Ma Tête », exploring African hairstyles. Her first feature-length documentary, « KOROMOUSSO – BIG SISTER », co-directed with Jim Donovan, deals with female genital mutilation. She sits on the board of RAFIQ, an organization that supports immigrant and racialized women in Quebec. She is currently working on her first short dramatic film, always focusing on her roots and her unique point of view.

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Chantal Leblanc obtained her Visual Arts diploma with honors from Central Technical School in 1995. She is interested in textures, sculpture, working with clay, mosaic, and stained glass in her personal practice. She founded La Muse Art Studio in 2008, through which she dedicates herself to teaching visual arts. Chantal is Métis, and after receiving training as a facilitator for teaching the Medicine Wheel, she shares this philosophy in schools. Her Indigenous roots provoke deep reflections that influence her artistic practice.

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ImageFatale aka Karen Vanderborght is a Belgian-born, Toronto-based creative director with a knack for technology and storytelling. From her beginnings in media art and underground cinema to her current work in VR and AR productions for clients like the United Nations, she’s always been at the forefront of innovation. Her diverse background, international experience, and love for gaming make her a unique and versatile talent in the industry.

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The press is talking about it !

SHOW OF LA BILLETTERIE ICI TÉLÉ
La billetterie came to see the exhibition 6 degrés, territoires de narration and interviewed Sophie Dumesny, one of the artists in the exhibition. She talks about what inspired her to participate in the project, the content of her letter, and the involvement of the public.
(March 11, 2024)

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INTERVIEW OF CHOQ fm 105.1
Nathalie Salmeron, a radio host, interviews Géronimo Inutiq and Laura Demers to discuss the exhibition 6 degrés, territoires de narration. Géronimo is a sound artist, whose performance-discussion took place during the exhibition’s opening, in partnership with l’AGAVF (Association des Groupes en Arts Visuels Francophone). Laura Demers is one of the artists involved in the project and also works for the AGAVF.
(March 8, 2024)

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REPORT OF CHOQ fm 105.1
Marine Ottogalli, a journalist and reporter for the Francophone community radio in Toronto, attended the opening of the exhibition 6 degrés, territoires de narration. She witnessed Géronimo Inutiq’s performance-discussion, where he invited artists and the public to exchange ideas around the question « where is home for us? where is home for you? »
(March 12, 2024)

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INTERVIEW OF RADIO-CANADA
In the radio show « À échelle humaine, » radio host Gabrielle Sabourin interviews Dyana Ouvrard, the curator of the exhibition 6 degrés, territoires de narration, as well as ImageFatale and Éveline Boudreau, two artists who participated in the project.
(March 9, 2024)

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ARTICLE OF L’EXPRESS
Journalist Lila Berdai attended the opening night of the exhibition 6 degrés, territoires de narration. It was an opportunity to read feminist and committed letters accompanied by music and to witness Géronimo Inutiq’s performance-discussion.
(March 13, 2024)