Colette
Laliberté


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NBIISH-EAU-WATER

Exhibition presented at the Galery du Nouvel Ontario, Sudbury, ON
October 13 - November 15, 2017

This project was realized with funding from the Ontario Arts Council's Exhibition Assistance Program.

Special thanks to Deanna Nebenionquit and Rubina Nebenionquit for their help, support, and expertise in the development of this project. I also wishes to thank Nicole Poulin for her technical support during the residency.

Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario (GNO) sits on the traditional territory of the Atikameksheng Anishnawbek First Nation.

  Exhibitions at the Galerie du Nouvel Ontario

NBIISH-EAU-WATER | Installation view of the exhibition presented at the Galerie du Nouvel Ontario (GNO) Sudbury ON | 2017

 

What does mapmaking reveal? And what can it conceal?

With Google Maps’ quasi-monopoly on digital maps, not to mention the ready availability of their satellite images covering the entire planet, questions around mapmaking are becoming more and more important. What can you really learn about a place by only studying the network of its roads, the borders between the communities that live there, and the static contours of its living waterways?

During my visits to the Greater Sudbury region, I was struck by the abundance of lakes, rivers and other waterways in the area. After a closer study of the region’s topography, I noticed that most of these waterways still bore the names given to them by settler cultures.

We can’t help but question the decision-making process that precedes the graphical representation found on a map. Why do we call this lake Ramsey? Why not Lake Bimitimigamasing? Around the communities of Lively and the Atikameksheng Anishnawbek First Nation, locals don’t always use Makada Lake’s traditional name, preferring to use the English name “Black Lake,” even though newer maps (Google Maps included) clearly designate it as “Makada Lake.”

Thus, my project questions and renders abstract the labels and other conventions associated with cartography. Over the course of a creative residency at the GNO, I created an interpretation of the region’s geographic maps by creating a large-scale site-specific wallwork.

 

detail of painting on wall

NBIISH-EAU-WATER | gouache on wall | lakes of Greater Sudbury spread on the walls of the gallery | various dimensions | 2017

Over 300 lakes indexed in the area of the Greater Sudbury painted in a multitude of hues without referencing any of their names question the conventions associated with mapping and the notions of borders.

 

as chloe laduchesse wrote in her text take me to the lake by using colours instead of names, colette laliberte establishes a new sort of relationship with space and distance.

NIBIIS-EAU-WATER | ouest side wall | detail of installation | gouache on wall | 2017

 

those who are familiar with the greater sudbury area will recognize the shape of turtle lake in colette laliberte wall paintin at the galeire du Nouvel Ontario

NBIISH-EAU-WATER | Installation view of the exhibition presented at the Galerie du Nouvel Ontario (GNO) Sudbury ON | 2017

pink orange bright green turqoise are some of the colours laliberte selected for her interpration of the 300 lakes indexed in the greater sudbury

NBIISH-EAU-WATER | gouache on wall | Galerie du Nouvel Ontario, Sudbury ON | 2017

 

lake ramsey figures in bright pink in colette laliberte exhibition at the galeire du nouvel ontario

NBIISH-EAU-WATER | ouest side wall at the entrance of the Gallerie du Nouvel Ontario, Sudbury ON | 2017

 

NBIISH-EAU-WATER | north side wall at the entrance of the Gallerie du Nouvel Ontario, Sudbury ON | 2017

 

in her exhibition at the gno colette laliberte celebrates colours in their full splendor and the flamboyant red of lake raspberry is just one example of how she present a different way of coding bodies of water

NBIISH-EAU-WATER | north side view of wall painting | Galerie du Nouvel Ontario, Sudbury ON | 2017

 

Contrary to what we see on maps be it the old paper version or google maps the uniform blue representing rivers and lakes is absent in colette laliberte three dimensional interpretations of the greater sudbury area

NBIISH-EAU-WATER | gouache on wall | Galerie du Nouvel Ontario, Sudbury ON | 2017

 

Painting on all the flat surfaces of the gallery more than three hundred lakes and water sources we are overwhelm by the amount of lakes floating on the gallery walls

NBIISH-EAU-WATER | gouache on wall | Galerie du Nouvel Ontario, Sudbury ON | 2017

 

Site specific wall painting at the GNO sudbury ontario showing rivers and interpretation of the grand lake Wanapitei painting in sulfur yellow

NBIISH-EAU-WATER | gouache on wall | Galerie du Nouvel Ontario, Sudbury ON | 2017

 

rivers and wanapatei lake interpreted in colorful hues by colette laliberte

NBIISH-EAU-WATER | gouache on wall | Galerie du Nouvel Ontario, Sudbury ON | 2017