Fantôme (Ghost)
Sculpture
Plywood, plastic, photographs, paint, metal screws
Figure 1: 65 x 36 x 26 | Figure 2: 65 x 36 x 26

François Gaudet’s interests lie in the hybridization of cultures and peoples. Inspired by the wild Acadian horses of Sable Island, who were protected during the great Acadian deportation of 1755, he works with the image of the horse as a two-dimensional form which he then manipulates into a solid self-supporting structure. When two of the horse shapes are placed side by side, with a small space between them, a third ghost-like horse appears. The artist uses this visual effect of parallax as a symbol of his own hybrid Acadian culture – a culture eternally wedged between two poles. His equine project offers an essential point of view on the survival of cultural identity for those who maintain a relationship with a dominant culture and its assimilation magnetism.

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