Dominique Vézina

PETITS SIGNES DU DÉSESPOIR
11.16–12.23.2000

Dominique Vézina isn’t a romantic; she’s a girl of her time—a young Quebecker in self-imposed exile in Europe (France, then London) who forges ahead, a go-getter! It’s not her nose she sticks everywhere, but her head. Like a giraffe that, for example, in one of the drawings in the series, is hiding in the water.

We’re witnessing a return to the practice of drawing that allows one, with whatever’s at hand (run to the nearest Dollarama…) and without necessarily needing professional tools (why waste money at Omer-de-Serres…), to follow her wandering whims, sketchbook under her arm: from her apartment to the corner café, from the bus to the nearby park. This doesn’t mean the practice isn’t serious. Nor does it mean the practice is limited to “poor” mediums, since Vézina also works with video and radio. A sketch based on observations of the living, the vibrant—much like the mood-driven chronicles of a solitary wanderer. Vézina unfolds her life in the manner of a “Mina Tannenbaum” who is searching for herself, who comes up against the wall of desolation, and who takes risks in her professional and personal relationships. Friendship—and the intimacy that comes with it—is seen as the epitome of what helps one survive. Raw honesty and touches of humor abound.

The artist captures the minor events of everyday life like a skilled taxidermist and shares her story with us: “That of a girl who has everything she needs to be happy: an apartment with a bathtub, a cell phone, a boyfriend, a debit card, makeup, a few nice pairs of shoes, and a job that pays relatively well. Despite all this (…) and yet without ever having to face any real disasters, she suffers from bouts of depression. It’s the mundane daily grind that wears her down (…).”

In this relative contemporary comfort, there is nothing tangible; a bright tomorrow is not guaranteed. There is a lack of excitement, a lack of commitment to a thrilling life project. The repetitive passage of time and lethargy must be fought—precisely through movement, through running, through being carried along, through traffic—all of which are ever-present in her videos. Stirring things up, revving up the metabolism: better than a pill, it’s a matter of “keeping yourself in check.”

E.G.