Barbara Salomé Felgenhauer at the Centre Bang

As part of a partnership between the BPS22 and the CALQ (Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec), the artist Barbara Salomé is in residence, from August to November 2024, at the Centre Bang, a con­tem­po­rary art centre in Saguenay (Quebec). During this time, she is continuing her inter­dis­ci­pli­nary research and experiments on the foun­da­tion­al myths of our civilisation.

In this residency, Barbara Salomé Felgenhauer is further developing her ideas for a project called the Laboratoire des nouvelles mythologies. This project, which spans both research and trans­dis­ci­pli­nary experiments on our foun­da­tion­al myths, questions the stories we tell, the language used to tell them, and their influence on how we shape society.

Specif­i­cal­ly, the artist is working on a series of photographs titled Et si Bernadette avait rêvé l’obscur, which began in Belgium and is being continued in Quebec, where she’s looking for replicas of the grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes. She is also exper­i­ment­ing with and exploring new forms of artistic expression for the Manifesto of the Laboratoire des nouvelles mythologies.

Her research, connected to the region, begins with the etymology of the Chicoutimi River’s name, ​“Saguenay”. She was struck by one possible translation: ​“Up to where the water is deep”. For the artist, the depth of the water, a dark and unknown place, becomes a fertile ground for creativity, resonating directly with the concept of ​“inner power” that Starhawk discusses in her book Dreaming the Dark, which has influenced the artist since 2020.

Barbara Salomé Felgenhauer is documenting the river through photography and delving into the region’s historical archives. She explores water’s symbolism as a source of primordial life, a vessel of planetary memory, and a spiritual figure. More specif­i­cal­ly, she focuses on the Chicoutimi River as a body that has been entirely dominated and arti­fi­cial­ly controlled by the hydro­elec­tric industry for over a century.

You can follow Barbara’s work on her website and Instagram account.