About the artwork
Des histoires traversent les corps sans être parlées (2021)
Des histoires traversent les corps sans être parlées addresses the temporalities of construction and deconstruction of images, writings and identities. The work questions the phenomenon of transmission and what allows its persistence or cessation.
Sarah Boutin’s video deals with absence, engaging in rituals where gestures such as braiding, washing, folding and purifying attempt to (re)constitute narratives. Some of the images from this video performance are then printed on plaster using a transfer method. Commonly used in medicine for its analgesic property, the plaster evokes appeasement.
The actions are repeated in a loop. Boutin’s performing body is confronted with the impossibility of fixing memory. The work evokes a form of prayer, allowing to face the obvious; certain narratives pre-exist and exceed us.