Under sin vistelse som gästkonstnär på Konstepidemin har Caroline Monnet skapat nya verk som nu visas i utställningen When River Meets The Sea. Konstnären använder sig av råa samtida byggnadsmaterial som vävs, sätts ihop och omvandlas till intrikata kompositioner för att frammana det metaforiska och de materiella ojämlikheter i levnadsförhållandena som ursprungsbefolkningen upplever i Kanada. Genom att blanda motiv inspirerade av traditionell Algonquin-ikonografi förvandlas materialens grymhet till poetiska former, där varje yta har potential för ornament.

In a series of new works created during her residency at Konstepidemin, the artist uses raw contemporary building materials that are weaved, assembled, and altered into intricate compositions to evokes both metaphorically and materially the inequalities in living conditions experienced by Indigenous communities in Canada. Mixing motifs inspired by traditional Algonquin iconography, the grimness of the materials transforms into poetic shapes, where every surface is potential for ornament. The tension that stems from the works question the potential role of architecture in reconciliation.

Caroline Monnet (Algonquin/French) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Montréal, Canada. Her work has been included in international exhibitions and collections, such as those of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, National Gallery of Canada, Whitney Biennale (NYC), Toronto Biennale of Art, Shirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, and the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art. Winner of a 2020 Sobey Art Award and the 2020 Prix Pierre-Ayot, Caroline Monnet is a major figure in contemporary art in Quebec and Canada. Using visual and media arts to communicate complex ideas around Indigenous identity and bicultural living through the examination of cultural histories, her work grapples with colonialism’s impact, updating outdated systems with indigenous methodologies. Monnet has made a signature for working with industrial materials, combining the vocabulary of popular and traditional visual-cultures with the tropes of modernist abstraction to create unique hybrid forms.