florence de meredieu sent me this beautiful postcard

text and image by:

Florence De Meredieu©FDM
Mars 2009 : Je reçois du Québec une singulière missive :
“14 mars, 2009.
Chère Madame Florence de Mèredieu,
J’ai rêvé qu’il manquait une aile à l’oiseau “Hicky”.
Sincèrement.
Karen Elaine Spencer”

Parce que j’aime les choses étranges et que la mention du 3e Imperial (Centre d’essai et d’expérimentation en art contemporain) me met sur la voie d’une procédure vagabonde, j’adresse en retour à Karen Elaine Spencer la carte reproduite ci-dessus, une photo prise en Chine en 2002. Avec cette légende : “Les oiseaux se sont envolés pour Pékin. Mais ils s’interrogent…”

Avril 2009 : la clef de l’énigme m’est fournie par un mail en provenance du 3e Imperial.
En résidence d’artiste, dans le cadre du programme d’”art infiltrant” mis en place par ce centre d’art, Elaine Karen Spencer a noté au vol au petit matin quelques bribes de ses rêves. Elle a ensuite adressé par voie postale quelque 625 missives à des inconnus, en majorité des habitants de Granby, petite ville du Québec.

Voir les informations et le reportage sur le travail de l’artiste sur le site www.3e-imperial.org/cyber-reportages/karen-spencer

Publié par fdemeredieu à l’adresse 04:44

dream listener dvd

stills from the video “dream listener”

visualeyez 2008/i dreamt i ran away from home (the last dream)

photo by: david khang

i dreamt i filled your mouth with stones

i dreamt i wrapped you in my skin

i dreamt you trusted me

nikî pawâten etâpwewakeyimiyin

nikî pawâten ekîwewekinitân pihcayihk nasakâhk

i dreamt i owned everything

nikî pawâten ekîtipêyihtamân kahkiyaw kîkway

i dreamt i locked you inside a shrinking house

i dreamt i cut your children’s hair

nîki pawâten nisâkaskinahtân kitpon asinkyak

i dreamt things fall apart

i dreamt i imposed my law and found you guilty

nikî pawâten kikwaya enanâniscipayihki

nikî pawâten ekîhitasiwâtakok niwiyasiwewina ekwa kîhatâneyimikawimâwâw

i dreamt i held your face away from the sun

i dreamt i awoke and heard your voice

visualeyez 2008/i dreamt i ran away from home (28)

day 13

today is the last day of my “street” work. tomorrow i will do a small performance in the gallery space. i hope there, in the gallery surrounded by people i have come to know, that i can lay down and let go of all the sorrow this work has engendered.

visualeyez 2008/i dreamt i ran away from home (27)

day 13

“niki pawaten emicimitan kihkwakan ochih pisim” is cree for: “i dreamt i held your face away from the sun.”

visualeyez 2008/i dreamt i ran away from home (26)

day 12

being here, in edmonton, at visualeyez, away from home, to be going home in three days. everything i have done here will be a memory, a trace of something that is no more, that is no longer visible, that i will have left behind. it’s always hard to reckon with how seemingly insignificant, how fleeting this practice of mine is. this place, this manner, where i choose to invest my life is so small. but inside myself i believe it is the small, the subtle, where we touch each other. and how can you measure that, how can you ever know what you have done?

visualeyez 2008/i dreamt i ran away from home (25)

day 12

traces of a chalk dream.

visualeyez 2008/i dreamt i ran away from home (24)

day 11

the chalk dream says, “i dreamt i imposed my law and found you guilty.”

i met with shawna dempsey this morning and we talked a bit about my work. shawna asked me how i felt about the work. i said, “good question.”

visualeyez 2008/i dreamt i ran away from home (23)

day 11

visualeyez 2008/i deamt i ran away from home (22)

day 11

at this spot two men were handcuffed and taken away. there were two police cars, four policemen and two men who had been sleeping on the grass and two bags. there seemed to be no conflict, the men were quiet, the police went through their bags, took out some books. handcuffed one man, then the other. i walked by.