Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain is pleased to present two new photographic series by Marie-Jeanne Musiol. In continuity with her previous work on energy transfers around plants, the artist will show recent images of plant corona activity - photo stills of energy patterns. In their capacity to capture and translate plant details into immersive luminous panoramas, these photos speak specifically to fluid boundaries between matter and light where materiality dissolves before our eyes. The edge of leaves (and of all substance) does not spell a defined outer limit for thing but acts as an interface for light penetrating matter and matter dissolving into light. A large lightbox brings into focus the movement of plant life oscillating between states of being.
Several works of the exhibition are indirectly referenced in the extensively illustrated photo book La Forêt radieuse : un herbier énergétique authored by the artist and recently published by Les éditions pfoac. The Radiant Forest, an English companion with the translation of texts and plate descriptions found in the French edition, is also available at the gallery where a display of some printing plates highlight the specifics of the printing process. Marie-Jeanne Musiol’s work was shown most recently at Centre Space in Toronto as a featured exhibition in the 2018 Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival.
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Marie-Jeanne Musiol's photo installations have evolved from archeological itineraries to journeys exploring the nature of energy. While working in Auschwitz in the 90s, she experienced the limits of photographic representation and began searching for a more direct way to express the felt presence.
She now records the luminous imprints of plants in electromagnetic fields. The “energy botany” she is constituting has been the object of several gallery and outdoor exhibitions in Canada, Europe and Asia. Her more recent work probes the light fields surrounding plants to uncover a mirror image of the cosmos enfolded in the light corona. Her presentations of electrophotography in national and international forums speak to the importance of magnetic fields as carriers of information and speculate on the holographic nature of the universe.
Marie-Jeanne Musiol lives and works in Gatineau, Quebec.
