Halfway between an exhibition catalog and a collection of poetry, The seventh petal of a monster tulip written in tandem by authors Elise Anne LaPlante and Mimi Haddam explores the metamorphosis of the body using a hybrid form.
With the evocative title, The seventh petal of a monster tulip was first a group exhibition put together by art curator Elise Anne LaPlante from Moncton. A project which unfolded in three cycles was presented in Saint-Boniface (Maison des artistes visual francophones), Moncton (Galerie d’art Louise-et-Reuben-Cohen) and Montreal (Galerie de l’UQAM). The one who is also co-director of the Association of Francophone Visual Arts Groups (AGAVF) shares her life between Montreal and Moncton.
Her art book that she wrote with Mimi Haddam sheds new light on this collective exhibition on the theme of the transformation of the body from a feminist and queer imaginary perspective. From one exhibition to another, the curator sought out different works, but always around the same theme.
The art book, the fourth part of the project, brings together poetic texts, a selection of images of works and performances by seven artists. The curator goes beyond conventions by pushing the concept of the exhibition catalog further by integrating a poetic dimension. The poetic paintings divided into three chapters are in dialogue with the works. The point here is not to describe the pieces, but to explore them through poetry.
Elise Anne LaPlante is interested in her practice in the rapprochement between visual arts and literature. In the exhibition, Mimi Haddam integrated poetic texts on the walls and floors of the galleries. The curator fell in love with the Montreal author’s writing, seeing in it a certain affinity with her own creation. This is how they had the idea of embarking on this co-writing adventure.
“We really wrote together as a four-hander. [….] There are a lot of sentences that were worked on by both of us. We sent each other snippets, then we gave each other the opportunity to intervene in what one had written. There is really a burst because each page, in the end, is like a little poetic painting that we wrote based on the three large prints that came out of the exhibitions.”
An exhibition space on paper
The texts echo the works which intertwine with each other.
“I really approached the book as an exhibition space in a way, but obviously instead of being a wall, ceiling, floor space, it’s a space where you turn the pages […].”
In the book, we do not find all the works from the three exhibitions. It would have been impossible. The author has chosen works that adapt well to the book format by creating a link with the drawing.
If the title of the book is intended primarily as a poetic impulse, the idea came after attending a botany course; an almost banal anecdote, underlines the author. The teacher then told them how flowers often follow patterns, like a tulip has six petals, but it could happen that the pattern deviates and a tulip has seven petals, it would then be considered a monster. “I found the image so beautiful. Him, it was just a little passing joke, but for 15 minutes afterwards, I didn’t listen anymore. I was dreaming of a monster tulip and I thought it was so beautiful.”
She wrote it down in notebooks for several years, then poeticized the expression and became the title of the exhibition and the book. Elise Anne LaPlante confides that the theme of metamorphosis fascinates her.
“I think it’s the imaginary aspect that really appeals to me because it seems that I consider that the imaginary has almost as much weight as reality to the extent that the fictions we believe in, the way in which we imagine things, can have concrete impacts on us, like the idea of monstrosity. It has always been seen as very pejorative, very linked to illness, while etymologically, the word “monstrous” is the fact of showing oneself.”
The book is launched on Saturday at 5pm at the Aberdeen Cultural Center as part of the Frye Festival. The artist and author Céline Huyghebaert (Le drap blanc) who is in creative residency at Atelier Imago will host the conversation with Elise Anne LaPlante and Mimi Haddam.
