The Caregivers presents the story of the many vibrant traces of women’s commitment to the Stanstead region. These stories, objects, sound and video devices are drawn from the Women's Institutes archives and the participatory process initiated by the Colby-Curtis Museum with thirteen elders from the English-speaking community.
The notion of generosity is at the heart of the project. The exhibition looks back at the altruistic legacy of powerful grandmothers and mothers who nurtured and cared for today's elders in the 20th century. Their social commitment made a major contribution to regional social cohesion, as well as to the recognition and education of women.
Today, as these women age, these associations are disappearing. The feeling of solidarity, the question of community and the maintenance of disinterested ties are becoming more fragile. The Caregivers looks back at the legacy of these committed women to inspire reflection on what can bind us together today.
"Architectures Domestiques" is the result of research into the domestic sphere and the field of applied arts traditionally reserved for women.
The artist Chantal Séguin questions the different issues related to the representation of women and their objects, created by and/or for them, in art and in the history of art.
For her research in the collections of the Colby-Curtis Museum, Chantal Séguin was particularly interested in domestic objects, those linked to food service (stoneware pots, luxury tableware and glassware, fine ceramics, etc.), decoration interior and more intimate objects, such as clothing, bedding, embroidery, etc.
Through these artifacts, she wishes to reflect on feminine spaces and the ways that women discover to appropriate and transform them.
