Drought Reversal 2020 by Laura Demers
Image courtesy of the artist
Growing up in the agricultural region of Wendover in the Outaouais, Laura Demers developed a strong sense of the influence of climate on human survival. Creativity has always been part of her daily life, as well as the nature and the cultivated fields that surrounded her. Influenced by atmospheric movements both literally and figuratively, Laura creates with wind, rain, clouds and sun, experimenting with different processes and materials that react with the elements. She draws with charcoal pigments that are dispersed by the wind or liquefied by the rain. With the help of the sun she composes images on cyanotypes. In the same way that weather changes affect agriculture, Laura's work is modulated by the rhythm of the seasons.
Entering the art world as a child through painting and drawing, Laura has subsequently developed a multidisciplinary practice influenced by her academic background and the new technologies at her disposal by incorporating video and multimedia installation. When the pandemic struck with periods of isolation, she returned to her original mediums with a renewed focus. She is drawn to the poetic and metaphorical ways of presenting subjects, as this allows her to better grasp the meaning of things that have no words to express themselves.
In her project "Geosmin & Rosaphen", Laura reflects on memory and the human experience. To do this, she immersed her nose in synthetic perfumes to create an installation that combines a smell with an image and questions our perception of the artificial and the natural. "A Certain State of Exhaustion", presented in the Trinity Square Video window, is about a certain anxiety around weather variations caused by human-induced geoengineering and the creation of 'anthropogenic clouds'. This installation is composed of a hygrothermograph, a video and a photographic print on silk.
Laura also has a curatorial practice. She is currently developing a project entitled "Against All Odds" for the Galerie du Nouvel Ontario (GNO) on the theme of resilience in the face of human-induced ecological disruption. This project features photography, video and sculpture by three artists who explore their commitment to the environment, particularly in the mining town of Sudbury. Originally scheduled for March 2020, this exhibition was postponed due to the pandemic and will be presented at the GNO in the near future.
To know more about Laura Demers, visit: laurademers.com