Lampooning the lopsided narratives of history

Moncton artist Mario Doucette explores the myths of written history in his exhibition Bagarres

Le Champ D’Esperance, a mixed media work by Moncton artist Mario Doucette. Amy Middleton

Moncton, N.B.’s Mario Doucette is exhibiting for the first time in Manitoba at La Maison Des Artistes with a show titled Bagarres, which in French means “brawling.”

The show highlights Doucette’s interests in nostalgia and how we perceive history. His exhibition combines drawing, painting and video mediums. The painted narratives Doucette creates (or recreates) are based on real-life events in history, a history which he feels is not always clear or truthful.

“History is sometimes written only on one side,” said Doucette, referring to the written history of Acadian culture, specifically, history written by the American writer Henry Longfellow.

Using these misinterpretations to stimulate a narrative, Doucette creates mythic landscapes where soldiers tangle with lions, unicorns, angels and dragons.

“The animals are from each place’s coat of arms,” explained Doucette.

Doucette’s interests and research are not limited to Acadian heritage and history either, which is reflected in the images of the show. In one of his works, Doucette depicts the Eagle of Saladin, which is Egypt’s national emblem, flying down and plucking soldiers from the ground.

Also included in the exhibition with the large drawings are many of Doucette’s videos.

In his short film titled Raffetot, Doucette mixes animations of his drawings and Super 8 footage into a sort of low-fi music video that covers a lot of ground in under 15 minutes, moving from Acadian history to a couple’s date.

Most of the actors in his movies reappear in many of the pieces, and a lot of his work is inspired by comic books and video games.

Bagarres is a travelling exhibition, starting with this first trip from Moncton to Winnipeg.

“It’s a two- to three-year project,” explained Doucette.

In addition to his solo work, Doucette is a member of an art collective in Moncton which is known for its public interventions called “Taupe Collectif” ( http://collectiftaupe.blogspot.com ).

“Once, we went to a public park and placed large signs all over it, saying that it was going to be changed into a mini mall,” said Doucette. “I left my studio number on the sign, pretending I was the contact for the project.”

What resulted was a barrage of phone calls and questions regarding the prank.

“In another situation, we made a vending machine that gave out mittens to prostitutes called the PIMP project,” Doucette said, describing Taupe Collectif’s reaction to the government handling of the red-light district in Moncton.

“We were trying to make light of how that whole situation was mishandled.”

Mario Doucette’s Bagarres is on display at Les Maison Des Artistes (219 Provencher Blvd.) until Wednesday, May 12.

Published in Volume 64, Number 25 of The Uniter (April 1, 2010)

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