BEAVER, THE RIVER’S LOVER

For several years now, the Artothèque in Caen (Calvados) has been offering a series of exhibitions focusing on contemporary painting and graphic arts. We’re also keen to highlight the work of women,” explains Yvan Poulain, director of the contemporary art center. This year, our major exhibitions are by women artists.

Since the early 2000s, Franco-American artist Suzanne Husky has been giving artistic and critical form to environmental issues. In the course of her work, the artist infiltrates various modalities and strategies of resistance that aim to restore alliances between humans and other living beings. “90% of watercourses have been altered”. “Wetlands are disappearing 3 times faster than forests”. Channelled, drained, cleaned out, recalibrated, drained, evacuated, purified – for centuries, rivers, streams, ditches and wetlands have been corseted, lined up, dried out and cleaned out. The accelerated flow of water causes the water tables to sink, and surprise: drought and fires. What if the river needed to be freed from its narrow, tasteless bed to lick trees, plants, taste soil, stones, explore, hydrate and obstruct new passages with its soft, exploratory waters? What if she needed to welcome the tickle of amphibians and fish, to feel the paws, beaks and roots that sink into her to feel fully. What if the river’s lover, the one capable of exploring its greatest possibilities, was a beaver?

Winner of this year’s Drawing Now prize, Suzanne Husky works in a variety of media, including watercolour, drawing and sculpture. From the very beginning of her practice, she has been committed to environmental issues,” explains Yvan Poulain. For her exhibition Castor, l’amant de la rivière, which she will be presenting at the Artothèque, Suzanne Husky has done extensive work on the beneficial role of beavers on river ecosystems. They build speed bumps that create wetlands, where fish can reproduce, plants reconnect and soils rehydrate. Together with researcher Baptiste Morizot, Suzanne Husky has also experimented with the artificial construction of beaver dams. This will be part of the exhibition.