JANNICK DESLAURIERS

Jannick Deslauriers' sculptures take shape as generalized versions of daily objects, inspired by dozens of images culled from the web. Once transformed into an ethereal and fictive ectoplasm, a building, a wheelchair or a tank look like they have been abandoned to their last task before becoming a form of reminiscence. In her recent research, inspired by Foucault’s notion of heterotopias, Deslauriers is interested in equipment and items that are associated with spaces such as amusement parks, retirement homes, hospitals, prisons or even cemeteries. From a constantly expanding lexicon of images that includes everything from old flying machines to medical equipment to a child’s tricycle or even lingerie, she builds uncanny hybrid prosthetics. In her latest work, the materials she uses – steel, wax, fabric, ash – and the actions they induce – welding, covering, sewing, scattering – together prompt associations with burning, fracturing, enveloping, suturing, cremation and regeneration, finally emerging as fragile yet disturbing bodily apparatuses.  
  
For her exhibition at the FOFA Gallery, Deslauriers will transform the main space into her studio and laboratory, producing work through an open and cumulative process. Welcoming encounters and conversations with the general public and the Concordia community, visitors will be offered a rare occasion to discover and witness her process.