The New Brunswick Arts Board is an arm’s length arts funding agency with a legislated mandate to facilitate and promote the creation of art as well as administering funding programs for professional artists in the province.
Written by Éloïse Leblanc, Executive Director of Projet Borgitte
Mica. Elle m’a demandé de tresser…[She asked that I braid…] Performance. 2024. Photo: Mica.
As part of the Quebec-Acadie Residencies program at Projet Borgitte, artists spend three months in residence at one of four host sites: the Fonderie Darling in Montréal, the Gare Matapédia in Gaspésie, the Galerie Sans Nom in Moncton, and the Projet Borgitte in Cap-Pelé. This three-year exchange program started in August 2024. The residencies aim to strengthen ties between Canadian Francophone communities, while promoting Acadian culture and bringing together the art scenes of the two provinces through a network of artist centres and residency locations.
Following the residency selection process, two artists from the Moncton region were given the opportunity to work with an artist from Québec, and received an Artist in Residence grant from artsnb to fund this residency. These performance artists were invited to Projet Borgitte, to work alongside Montréal-based artist Marie-Ségolène Brault. Making the connections between Quebec and Acadie a reality, they explored their individual projects in the performing arts while sharing a space and exchanging ideas.
C1 ANVLOP MASKES has led Rotchild to develop a photographic record in which he appears in a mask and altered clothing that play in turn on the concepts of introspection and retrospection, and that enable him to examine and externalize the unique elements of identity that correspond to his moods, culture, and past experiences.
As an extension of a project entitled Elle m’a demandé de tresser…, Mica has devoted hours at a time to intertwining ammophiles (beachgrass) growing along the shore. At the border between performance, Land Art, and forest therapy, the artist’s repetitive gestures have had to contend with often difficult weather conditions, bringing radical healing for human beings and for nature to centre stage.
Looking back on their explorations, I remember Mica in a yellow raincoat, a handful of hay in each hand, creating a braid on top of the ground, battered by drops of water from the rough sea and stretching down the trail. I was struck by the memory of a second mask, entirely white, that only appears at the end of a series of Rotchild’s photos, abandoned in the red soil, while the self-portrait shows the artist in the black mask.
Above: Rotchild Choisy. C1 ANVLOP MASKES no 64. Photo-performance. 2024. Photo : Rotchild Choisy.
Below: Rotchild Choisy. C1 ANVLOP MASKES no 68. Photo-performance. 2024. Photo : Rotchild Choisy.
During the three weeks of their residency, the artists found their distinct rhythm, making their individual spaces their own and sharing their ideas every evening over supper. Their discussions about the performing arts culminated in a closing event on November 15, 2024, at the Centre culturel Aberdeen. At this event, I was able to talk to all three artists, who demystified the language of their performance, explained the origins and sources of inspiration of their practices, and shared their reflections on performance as a creative approach.
Closing event of the residency at Centre culturel Aberdeen. On the photo, from left to right: Éloïse LeBlanc, Mica, Rotchild Choisy, Marie-Ségolène Brault. Photo: Marc Xavier Leblanc.
The selection process is underway for the second edition of the Quebec-Acadie residency program, in 2026. We encourage artists in New Brunswick to submit applications to the program.
Projet Borgitte is located in Cap-Pelé, in southeastern New Brunswick, one of the province’s French-speaking region, home to the Acadians and ancestral land of the Mi’kmaq peoples. The coastal land stretching from Anse-à-Borgitte to Pointe à Fagan is crossed by a trail where walkers can enjoy a little silence and the breeze coming in from the ancient Red Sea.
Projet Borgitte is a place for reflection and encounter by the sea. Set back from the hustle and bustle of city life, it is still only a 40-minute drive from the cultural venues of the greater Moncton area.
Projet Borgitte’s primary mission is to host resident artists. This mission is also carried out through residencies open to the public, which take the form of workshops, vernissages, concerts, performances, conversations, etc.
Stay tuned for what’s happening at Projet Borgitte
Instagram: @projet.borgitte
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Website: https://projetborgitte.ca/
