Valérie Potvin’s installation works are perceived as strange fictional worlds that often translate the body and evoke the complexity of human interactions and our relationship with the environment. Her practice explores the critical and ethical dimensions of art, integrating explicit references to social and environmental issues, as well as to human suffering. Through associations of ideas and images that are at times enigmatic, her creations provoke reflection and challenge the viewer’s identity by questioning their understanding of the world. Her artistic research, centered on power dynamics and the exploration of the body, has led her to address themes such as death and sexuality. Her growing awareness of systems of oppression has also led her to assert a feminist stance.
Valérie Potvin lives and works between Canada and Germany. She holds an interdisciplinary Master’s degree in Arts and a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts from Université Laval in Canada. Her research has been supported by numerous institutions, and she has received awards in Quebec and across Canada. Her work has notably been presented at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec in Canada, the SESC Pinheiros in São Paulo, Brazil, and the Cameron Art Museum in the United States. Her multidisciplinary practice includes sculptural installations, public art, and video. She generally creates large-scale immersive works that challenge viewers’ perceptions while exploring social, environmental, political, and feminist issues. Her art addresses themes of identity, the body, power, sexuality, and death, with a focus on urgent ethical questions.
