Artistic (personal, social, political) Development

I tell people that I’m from where I get involved, where I cast in my lot. 

After living successively in Africa, France, the Caribbean, and the Indian Ocean, I now live in Canada’s spectrum of white where I have rediscovered the age-old, protective magic of the totem and mask so familiar to my native Africa.

Since spirits inhabit my “totemic forest” I stage it so as manifest Nature’s sacred dimension. Personal and universal symbols inform my iconography which combines installation, performance, and print arts with sculpture. My installations and performances strive to create an immersive experience, whence the integration of scents and sounds that distinguishes my artwork. It weaves many strands of sensory perception into a poetic and metaphorical tapestry which highlights the urgency of changing our relationship to the environment. 

For over thirty years this quest for meaning and relevance has impelled my art. I have explored the concept of origins from my birthplace in Africa and throughout the many lands where I have subsequently lived. 

Digital photography, computer graphics, and engravings make the spirits of my forest visible. Some of my images feature fibre optics. 

Although I employ state-of-the-art technology a primeval animus drives me. 

I remember…I’m Nature. 

Michel Gautier 

Translated by Professor Norman Cornett