Michaëlle Sergile
And Then, Perhaps, a Memory

The impetus for this new project by Michaëlle Sergile was provided by the stories of three Haitian women–journalist Michèle Montas, writer Marie-Célie Agnant and Marie Wilnie Brézault, the artist’s mother–who immigrated to Québec at different times. Though the reasons for their journeys differed–exile, constraint, the desire to pass on knowledge–these women carry with them the histories and geographical spaces of both places.

In these outsized installations that combine video, weaving, sound and sculpture, the artist offers a reflection on bereavement in which glitches–digital distortions in sounds and visual images–function as a language, blurring time and disrupting linear readings of history to permit personal interpretations.

The artist wishes to thank Marie-Célie Agnant, Michèle Montas and Wilnie Brézault as well as David Bontemps, Joséphine Denis, Paul Toussaint and Kadidia Traoré. She further acknowledges the contributions of Dominique Desbiens at Atelier Circulaire, Gregory Prescott and Natacha Chamko at Atelier Clark, the Centre des textiles contemporains de Montréal, the Centre international de documentation et d’information haïtienne, caribéenne et afro-canadienne (CIDIHCA) and the support of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ).