BIO Patricia Lortie studied industrial design and business administration in Montreal. She moved to Calgary in 1995 and studied at the Alberta University of the Arts. Her practice includes painting, sculpture, installation, public art and education. In 2010, she represented Alberta at the Cultural Olympiad of the Vancouver Olympic Games. Last year, her work was part of the exhibition Women’s Presence, showcasing the work of important French-speaking women artists in Western Canada.
ARTISTIC PROJECT Patricia Lortie’s work seeks to affirm our symbiotic relationship with the natural world. In all her endeavours, she gives new meaning to the experience of moments of intimate connection with the natural world. For Lortie, nature is the original model of interconnectivity. In our evolving world, it is more essential than ever to recognise that what joins us, primordially and undeniably, is our shared belonging to the natural world.
PROJECT Through her project L’Ancêtre, Patricia Lortie makes a symbolic gesture and restores cardboard to the shape of a tree. The sculpture will be made out of corrugated cardboard using a process of her own invention, and will be accompanied by a video projection. Visitors will be able to touch the sculpture and take it in their arms in order to remind them of our primordial connection with the natural world. Making the sculpture will require gathering recycled corrugated cardboard. A public appeal for corrugated cardboard will test, on a local level, the interconnectivity offered by digital networks. This invitation will prompt people to examine their consumption and create a real connection between artwork and individual. Through the use of recycled cardboard, Lortie interrogates our ties to overconsumption and our use of the forest to support the online shopping industry.