Thinking about Eco-Friendly Costumes

Her artistic research hopes to shed light on the beauty of the Wolastoqey language and its relation to the land and the body. In 2020, in collaboration with Tangente and L’Agora de la danse, Aubin-Malo initiated the event series MAQAHATINE, which aims to bring together Indigenous movement-based artists in order to break isolation, cultivate inspiration, and to facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing. Recently based in L’Islet (Quebec) she plans to open a Wolastoqey Cultural Centre where culture can be celebrated and revitalized in the area while connecting with others.

She has worked on many circus productions, including three with Cirque du Soleil (Bôcca, Le monde est fou and Tout écartillé), and a recent show with Cirque Éloize (Serge Fiori Seul Ensemble). For the stage, she has collaborated with directors like Nini Bélanger (Pascal Brullemans’s Petite sorcière and Splendide jeunesse), Michel-Maxime Legault (Sébastien Harrisson’s Les inventions à deux voix and Pascal Brullemans’s Ce que nous avons fait), and Catherine Vidal (Arne Lygre’s Je disparais). She has designed sets and costumes for operatic productions as well, such as Aliénor (Opéra de Limoges), and Fando et Lis (Opéra de Saint-Étienne). In 2015, Marilène became mentee under Anick La Bissonnière, recipient of the prestigious Siminovitch Prize.

During her studies, she developed a particular interest in environmental responsibility. Since January 2021, she has worked at Écoscéno, where she is fully invested in developing their costume and textiles department. Fournier also provides eco-design counselling to costume designers, and creates resources and tools for use in eco-responsible costume design.

Having taught costume design at history for over thirteen years (at LaSalle College and Conservatoire d’art dramatique de Québec), she is interested in both the narrative potential of costume design, and its relationship to history. Lecours has designed costumes for a wide variety of stage productions, notably period pieces (such as Amadeus, Théâtre du Trident), science fiction (Astronettes, la longue marche vers les étoiles, Théâtre du Niveau Parking), and horror (MAC(DEATH), Théâtre de la Chapelle). She currently works as head cataloger for new acquisitions at Grand Costumier, where she is also costume designer for productions outside Quebec.