“Distinguished artistic achievement” – that's why the Canadian photographer Geneviève Cadieux belongs to the award winners of the 2011 Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts.
In her Nomination Statement, Marie Fraser, Chief Curator at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, emphasizes how important Cadieux' work was for the resurgence of photography in contemporary arts. “In it, she examines issues of representation (mainly photographic) acutely and poetically, while addressing in an exemplary way questions of gender and identity, as well as existential elements in the cycle of life and the passage of time.”
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| La Voie lactée, 1992, back-lit panel, aluminum case, inkjet digital print on flexible, transluscent canvas, printed on front only, 1/2 editions, 183 x 457 cm. Collection: Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal. Donation by the artist (photo: Louis Lussier). |
Furthermore, Cadieux is also very well know to Montreal residents and visitors. La Voie Lactee (1992), has been installed on the roof of the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal in 1992 and has since then become a visual reference point of the city. When Man Ray comes in your mind right now, you are right; she refers to Man Ray's famous painting of lips floating in a surrealistic manner in the sky. But in Cadieux' photo, the lips are opened a bit; the erotic implication is mixed with language symbolism.
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| Cet après-midi là (enchantement), 2006, photographic print, 290.8 x 466.7 cm. (Courtesy of the artist) |
This photograph is composed of three parts that show a girl in a dress, abstract vegetation and a parrot. The paradisiac atmosphere is strongly interrupted by the abstract part in the middle. There is no story that the beholder can detect. It demonstrates how photography can exist on its own without obvious narration. The presentation of her artwork – leaning on the wall – is theatrical and challenges the viewer's habits in emphasizing on the physical state of the media.
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| The 2011 award recipients from left to right like they were announced by the Canada Council for the Arts: Nancy Tousley, Robert Fones , Kye-Yeon Son, David Rimmer, Barbara Sternberg , Geneviève Cadieux, Michael Morris, and Shirley Wiitasalo. (photo: Martin Lipman) |
Altogether, eight artists received the 2011 Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts from the CCA. Not only painting and photography were represented as media, but also performance, experimental film and metal smithing. To see the broad spectrum of artworks, visit the Governor General’s Awards exhibition at the National Gallery from March 25 until June 19, 2011.
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