Emmanuelle Léonard
Impressions, Arctique

2019

The works Le champ de tir; Hercules, Winnipeg-Resolute; Ranger la nuit, Resolute; Soldat la nuit, Resolute and Impressions, Arctique are taken from a body of work undertaken by Emmanuelle Léonard during a research residency in the Canadian Far North sponsored by the Canadian Forces Artists Program.

Here the artist’ s attention turns toward the soldier-as-human-being in short video portraits of a dozen volunteers who were asked to describe their impressions of the landscape, the cold, life, remoteness and the nomadic condition brought on by military life.

They appear out of uniform, without masks, some scarcely past adolescence, amid the close quarters of the soldier’s life and the immensity of the land, balancing solitude and interdependence. A few minutes each, the black-and-white sequences were filmed very soberly in a nondescript space. Of various languages, cultures and origins, the participants come across more as young people enthusiastic about their discovery of the Arctic than military personnel talking about their job. At first, they appear nervous in front of the camera but then speak spontaneously about the mission’s challenges. Their comments enable us to grasp how troubling a physical state the cold induces, a state shared by all, which fosters a feeling of solidarity. And they suggest an attitude of awe before the beauty of the landscape and the northern light.