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© Christine Berthiaume

Meshtitau

Soleil Launière

Uprooted too quickly, the trees, like the elders, have disappeared without passing on their knowledge. Meshtitau is an ode to ancestral roots and healing. A performance that invites us to repair the broken links with our land and ancestors.

Details

What remains after death? For trees, life goes on. They feed the soil with their ancient wisdom, perpetuating their memory for the living. If they are uprooted too quickly, trees, like elders, often disappear without passing on their knowledge. Inspired by this severed connection with trees that have been cut down and with elders who died too soon, the multidisciplinary Pekuakamilnu artist born in Mashteuiatsh,Soleil Launière, created Meshtitau, il a tout détruit, saccagé sur son passage in Innu-aimun, an ode to roots and healing. This performance invites us to mend our broken ties to our ancestors and to the land.   

An immersion into the heart of the forest energies sleeping beneath the city, Launière’s performance builds bridges between worlds. The city reunites with nature, light meets the shadows, and life comes to terms with death. The urban garden of the Musée d’art contemporain, inhabited by the performance artists Rasili Botz and Jacques Newashish, centres around a century-old tree reconstructed by the Atikamekw visual artist Eruoma Awashish and becomes charged with myriad ancestral energies. A hypnotic performance following the trajectory of the setting sun, Meshtitau delves into the invisible realm and makes dormant worlds re-emerge from underneath the pavement.

 

Credits

Produced by Production AUEN
Directed by Soleil Launière
Performed by Rasili Botz + Jacques Newashish
Set Design Eruoma Awashish
Lighting Design Gonzalo Soldi (HUB Studio)
Costume Design Fruzsina Lanyi
Sound Design and Technical Director Marcin Bunar
Production Manager Cynthia Bouchard-Gosselin
Producer and Artistic Support Julie Marie Bourgeois

Co-produced by Festival TransAmériques
Creative residencies Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal + Centre de Création O Vertigo – CCOV + Danse-Cité

Presented in association with Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal

Written by Elsa Pépin
Translated by Luba Markovskaia

Premiered at Festival TransAmériques, Montreal, on June 4, 2021

 

© Maxime Côté

Soleil Launière (Montréal)

Through song, movement, theatre, and performance, Soleil Launière, a Pekuakamilnu artist born in Mashteuiatsh, creates a universe that is deeply connected to her roots and to Innu traditions.

Full biography
Interview