Because she is black and a woman, her only presence is often resistance. And it is to express her resistance that the performer Sonia Hughes set up the installation I Am From Reykjavik, which comes to Montreal for the Festival TransAmériques (FTA). For seven hours, in different places in the city, Sonia Hughes will build herself, with anyone willing to help her, a shelter just big enough to contain her. Inside, nothing but photos of his father and mother. Outside, a few plants and a container, to welcome any passers-by, who are also invited to lend a hand in his business.
Its installation has already been erected in Europe and South Africa. She will soon perform it again in Toronto. Sonia Hughes is happy to chat with passers-by about her installation. But she repeats it in interviews, it is for herself that she builds it. To ensure that it can survive at any latitude, in any environment. “It’s like putting an object in a fire to see if it resists the flame,” she says.
The artist confirms that she suffered from discrimination, particularly in Great Britain, where she lives. This is what pushes her to claim, through art, her place in the sun, in the rain or in the snow. “My installation may seem to evoke immigration,” she says, “but it can also evoke someone who has mental health problems. It can also feel like homelessness. It can look like different things in different contexts. So here it might be something else. In Montreal, I might have a different impression, because of controversies. But it can also simply look like a sculpture, because I find myself in a very beautiful place. »
Montreal tensions
Before setting up her makeshift shelter, Sonia Hughes surveys the zeitgeist of the cities and countries she visits. In Montreal, at the time of our interview, she had already picked up on the annoyance of a passerby to whom she had asked directions in English. “My French is very bad,” she said.
“I know there are a lot of things going on here that it’s not necessarily because of me. There are historical reasons why people may feel in a position of power or inferiority, depending on the language they speak. But it could also be because of me, she said. I have to understand the context. This context may be that this person is worried about the decline of French. » But in any case, she continues, “it should not discourage me from being there”.
The photos of your parents represent the essentials, what you carry with you. In a book titled The Weeding CaneSonia Hughes told the fictionalized story of her parents, who emigrated from the Caribbean to England leaving one of their daughters, Sonia Hughes’ older sister, who was born in Britain, behind.
The installation is named I Am From Reykjavik, because it was in Iceland that it was conceived, and Sonia Hughes felt remarkably at home in this northern city. “But I also say I’m from Reykjavik because in Britain people often ask me where I’m from. When I tell them I’m from Manchester, they may insist, but where are you really from? Sometimes it comes from genuine curiosity. They ask where your parents are from. But sometimes the message is more: “You are not from here. You don’t belong here.” »
Depending on the places she visited, the reactions to her installation were different. “In a place where I moved in Denmark, everything was brand new, condominiums just built. It was a very hot day and everyone was thinking about going to the swimming pool. And absolutely no one spoke to me. However, there were people who knew I was coming, who knew what it was about. I felt completely at odds with the place, and even at odds with the people there,” she recalls. In another place, in Britain, I found myself in a place where there were a lot of immigrants. There were also a lot of alcoholics. I spoke with them and there were children who came to help me all day. »
In Montreal, Sonia Hughes will first set up on Saturday at La Fontaine park, on the Plateau Mont-Royal, then on Sunday at Morgan park, in Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, and Monday on the forecourt of the Saint-Denis swimming pool, in Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie.
