Gabrielle Turbide. Dystrophe

Galerie de l’UQAM welcomes Dystrophe, an exhibition by Gabrielle Turbide, a graduating master’s student in Visual and Media Arts at UQAM. By creating experimental laboratories that bring together technology and living organisms, the artist gives shape to hybrid ecosystems where plants, algae, microorganisms, and fragile machines interact. Through these constantly evolving assemblages, Gabrielle Turbide explores the strategies of adaptation and resilience found in the living, while bringing to light the erased narratives of bodies, voices, and vulnerable environments.

The exhibition

Dystrophe is an experimental ecosystem where photosynthetic microorganisms and electronic components coexist within a speculative salt marsh. At the heart of the installation are images created using chlorophyll printing—an organic photographic process that harnesses the green pigment’s sensitivity to ultraviolet light. Exposed to the conditions of their environment, these images transform over the course of the exhibition, following cycles of degradation and reactivation. The work explores the relationships between photosynthetic life and its environment by making perceptible the ephemeral forms resulting from unstable biological processes.

“My project,” explains the artist, “draws inspiration from the phenomenon of eutrophication in saline environments—a process in which these environments become enriched with nutrients, leading to a proliferation of algae, phytoplankton, and photosynthetic bacteria. Accelerated by human activities, this imbalance causes a decline in biodiversity and the suffocation of the environment. The installation invites viewers to observe the precarious dynamics that emerge within vulnerable environments, where disappearance, transformation, and adaptation are all part of the same ecological cycle.”

The installation consists of five modular structures, assembled from recycled and raw materials such as copper pipes, concrete, bioplastics derived from algae, salvaged electronic components, and 3D-printed parts. These elements form a hybrid environment where living, industrial, and technological materials coexist. Bringing together various experiments involving photosynthesis, chlorophyll printing, and the cultivation of microorganisms, the exhibition forms a living system that evolves according to its environment and physical conditions.

The artist

Gabrielle Turbide is an interdisciplinary artist based in Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang/Montreal. She holds an interdisciplinary bachelor’s degree in digital arts from the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi and the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia (2023). She is currently completing a master’s degree in Visual and Media Arts at UQAM, where she received a grant from the Faculty Fund of the School of Visual and Media Arts (2023) as well as the Arprim/School of Visual and Media Arts production grant (2024). In 2026, she was awarded the New Horizons Prize by the Grantham Foundation for Art and the Environment. She is a member of the Hexagram research-creation network in Montreal and the Ubchihica Center for Research and Creation in Digital Arts in Chicoutimi. Her work has been presented in group exhibitions and at conferences in Canada, Colombia, Mexico, and Morocco.
gabrielleturbide.com