The Foreman Art Gallery of Bishop’s University invited students and families to an opening reception of the exhibition Towering: Trissements, created by Geneviève Chevalier and curated by Gentiane Bélanger, on Sept. 8. Chevalier, a professor from Laval University, presents pictures and a video of her research on the swallow population in the Eastern Townships. Visitors are asked to question the relationship between nature and modernity.

Bélanger created a minimalist exhibition. Chevalier’s pictures of the dead swallows are hung on a brown wall. Her video is projected on the other side of the room. “It’s weird,” said Steve Pharand, who helped to put together the exhibition, “when you enter the room, you see all those dead birds. It can be seen as [a] macabre [show].” However, he feels intrigued by Chevalier’s artworks because they show “how humans impact the fauna and the flora.”

Chevalier explores the idea of modernity and biodiversity through virtual reality lenses. The viewers see birds in their natural environments. One of the videos, for example, showcases a farm where animals are flying freely. 

Chevalier has been working in collaboration with researchers to create a database of the swallow population within the Eastern Townships. Chevalier and her students from Laval University took pictures and videos of the cadavers for scientific purposes. Chevalier also used the material as part of her artwork. Indeed, she created a video that regroups the dead swallows in scientific and aesthetic criteria. 

The exhibition aims to “decolonize [our] relationship to nature,” said Bélanger. Chevalier did a residency in England in 2020. She learned how the triangular trade, from the 16th to the 19th centuries, profited from newly discovered exotic species. “[Traders] exploited natural resources,” said Chevalier.

Today, the researchers from the swallow population project have found that large-scale cultures and pesticides are making the swallow population “decrease significantly.” “We need to change our food chain industry and transportation system,” said Chevalier, because fields in the Eastern Townships are cultivated with pesticides that make the ecosystem more fragile.

Towering: Trissements is on exhibition in the Foreman Art Gallery until Oct. 8. It’s part of a larger initiative from the city of Sherbrooke called ZOOM-OUT, which focuses on the visual arts and the philosophy behind modern media.