… la mesure des vagues… 2001
Artefact 2001, Urban sculptures — Canal de Lachine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada — Metallic structures covered with shredded fabric — H. 150 to 190 cm x L. 600 to 750 cm x W. 70 to 90 cm.
(…) “Contact with the archaeology particular to the Lachine canal has considerably changed the nature of Michelle Héon's boats. From the bluish colour they were, the colour of the sea, when they ran aground in the old European swamps, virtually sinking into silence, they have become red, the colour of flesh, here. At the same time, their colour has become a substance again: the clothing scraps are easily recognisable because the boats have sunk by the canal side and are on huge cement blocks, heavily laden with recent history that further accentuates the fragility of the skeletons. All in all, the canal has considerably humanised Michelle Héon's archaeological objects…” (…)
© Gilles Daigneault 2001, excerpt from Leçons buissonnières, catalogue Artefact 2001 SCULPTURES Urbaines URBAN sculptures.
Photographies © Ninon Bernatchez 2001 — © John McEwen 2001.