Drawing on the dynamics of growth and proliferation in the living world, Alissa Bilodeau unfolds, in this new series of textile works, a speculative and inventive morphogenesis. Her formal explorations take the shape of biomorphic organisms that seem to have emerged from a distant planet. Porous and punctuated with conical structures, these fantastical entities evoke both geological formations and networks of growing fungal hyphae.
Through the use of crochet—a medium rooted in prolonged and endlessly repeated gesture—the artist diverts this traditional craft from its domestic connotations to inscribe it within an exobiological imaginary. Vivid, acidic colours heighten the strangeness of these forms, suggesting unknown environmental conditions or non-human regimes of growth. The ensemble unfolds as a hypothetical landscape, in which sculpture becomes the fragment of an alternative ecosystem, at once familiar and radically other.
Holding a Bachelor’s degree in Visual and Media Arts from Université Laval and a diploma in sculpture from the Maison des métiers d’art de Québec, Alissa Bilodeau has presented some ten solo exhibitions in Quebec and has taken part in major events such as the International Biennial of Crafts and Creation in Paris. In 2023, she was awarded the Emerging Artist in Crafts Prize at the Gala des Prix d’excellence des arts et de la culture. In recent years, she has also been active in the field of public art, developing projects that integrate art and architecture.
