Three public art projects in two years, an unprecedented exhibition in Frelighsburg, participation in the Rencontres Internationales de la photographie in Gaspésie: the photographer Éliane Excoffier has the wind in her sails. We met her at her studio in Sutton and at Mount Pinacle where she shared some secrets…
Posted yesterday at 11am
Text: Eric Clément La Presse
Photos: Martin Tremblay La Press
Sutton Bend
After years of exploring the body, sensuality and feminine rituals, Éliane Excoffier took a turn in 2015 when she moved to Sutton. She then turned her lenses towards nature and animals, as shown in her series Fables (2015), Nightlife (2018) and A Thousand Leagues (2021). However, the Excoffier signature remained the same. Imbued with intuition, a deep bond with traditional photography and a style of staging reminiscent of the still lifes of great Flemish painting.
Éliane Excoffier, who is passionate about art history and graduated from the University of Montreal in the 1990s, is a particular “bug”! “I’ve never been caught up in the currents of photography,” she says. When the world went big in color, I stuck to small black and white photos. I often felt a bit out of place! »
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Éliane Excoffier on Mount Pinnacle
However, in the background it is collected by amateurs, companies and museums. “I’ve always had my own market,” says the artist represented by Simon Blais. But I prefer to show my work and stay behind the camera. Fascinated by Gabor Szilasi, she feels familiar with the work of Yan Giguère, Alain Lefort, Marie-Jeanne Musiol, Janie Julien-Fort and Michel Lamothe. And appreciates the steps of his colleagues Serge Clément, Geneviève Cadieux, Evergon, Michel Campeau, Bertrand Carrière, Normand Rajotte, Angela Grauerholz, Nicolas Baier or even Raymonde April.
Freiburg
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Mount Pinnacle
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Photo of an owl perfectly integrated into the environment
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This summer she presents Nightlife on Mount Pinnacle in support of the Adelard Center in Frelighsburg. Photographs resulting from an original experience. She attached 11 infrared cameras equipped with motion sensors to trees on Mount Pinnacle, operating day and night from April 2021 to April 2022, pecans, porcupines, coyotes, raccoons, gray herons, owls, foxes, etc. An experience that captured the great variety of animals of this forest revealed. “It’s one of the most beautiful projects I’ve worked on,” says the artist, who was born in Saint-Jérôme in 1971.
Five large photos and a video of the corpus will be presented in the village. Eleven more have been incorporated into the landscape along a trail on Mount Pinnacle, a site which cannot normally be visited as it is vigilantly managed by the Land Trust of Mount Pinnacle. The photographic route (a loop of about 30 minutes) will be offered on Saturdays and Sundays from 12pm to 4pm until October 9th.
The workshop
When she’s not in nature, Éliane Excoffier is in her darkroom. She does her film tests there, especially after using her expensive 4×5 camera. She also works digitally, but prefers the craft and experimental side of film. “I like it when I close the door, when I find myself in the dark, like in a bubble, cut off from the world, cut off from time. For Mount Pinnacle I had to work digitally. Film is too fragile and suitable for more confidential projects. »
Éliane Excoffier will also take part in the Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie in Gaspésie this summer. She exhibits in Percé, as does her good friend, the artist Sophie Jodoin.
public art
PHOTO ÉLIANE EXCOFFIER PROVIDED BY THE ARTIST
Work for the Fadette high school in Saint-Hyacinthe
Éliane Excoffier had to diversify during the pandemic. She touched public art for the first time, winning three competitions in two years! Last May, she installed two photographs at Fadette High School in Saint-Hyacinthe. And got two orders for two retirement homes. “In Châteauguay this autumn I will provide 10 landscape photos for the walls of the dining room and in Longueuil there will be a view of the forest, a close-up of a fern and the photo of a delicate flower in the entrance hall of the house. »
Éliane Excoffier in six works
PHOTO ÉLIANE EXCOFFIER PROVIDED BY THE ARTIST
Obscures, Series No.2-01, 2006, Gelatin silver print
PHOTO ÉLIANE EXCOFFIER PROVIDED BY THE ARTIST
Spaces (And Other Photographic Stories) No. 5, 2011. Film.
PHOTO ÉLIANE EXCOFFIER PROVIDED BY THE ARTIST
Fables (Blind Red), 2015, analogue
PHOTO ÉLIANE EXCOFFIER PROVIDED BY THE ARTIST
Nightlife (Stag, January), 2018, inkjet print
PHOTO ÉLIANE EXCOFFIER PROVIDED BY THE ARTIST
A Thousand Leagues (Pinacle) 2021 Inkjet Print
PHOTO ÉLIANE EXCOFFIER PROVIDED BY THE ARTIST
Installation in Percé as part of the International Meetings of Photography in Gaspésie
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