Biennale - Portneuf, Quebec

Lycia Trouton - Linen Memorial - BILP 2011 from Biennale du lin on Vimeo.

HOW TO GET THERE

Visit The Linen Memorial this year in 2011, on Wednesdays to Sundays 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m, from June 21st The Day of Private Reflection to September 5th at The Biennale of Flax and Linen Art and Design. This Biennale is being held in small towns along the St. Lawrence river in Quebec, Canada.

Portneuf Canada is celebrating 150 years www.quebecgetaways.com/biennale-internationale-du-lin-de-portneuf.

Visit The Linen Memorial installed in the small chapel of St. John Evangeliste Portneuf. Turn off Route 138 at Rue d'Edward Hale, Portneuf.

View St John Chapel in a larger map

There is an informative Guide to walk you through the memorial and the era of The Northern Ireland conflict or Belfast Troubles (1966 - 2006).

 

Words stated by artist, Lycia Danielle Trouton, Portneuf Quebec.

"The Ulster Linen Memorial"

Day of Private Reflection Blessing Service by Canon Graham Jackson.

Time: 10 - 11 a.m. June 21st 2011.

Site: Chapel of St John the Evangelist,

Location: 100 1st Avenue, Portneuf, Quebec, Canada.

Persons present - less than 10.

For The International Visual Art, Craft, Fashion Design Biennale of Flax and Linen and "Portneuf 1861" Cultural Heritage Festival

It is special and unique to be unveiling my memorial-artwork with you on Northern Ireland's Day of Private Reflection on the conflict (that period of violent sectarianism called The Troubles), June 21st 2011. The years on the memorial represent 1966 - 2006, 40 years in total - for a country considered "post-conflict (but still conflicted)".

This is the longest day of light in the Northern Hemisphere - time enough to pause and reflect upon the "community of the dead" that you see

(sewn on the linen handkerchiefs - 10 names per handkerchief panel, in chain stitch --- by 50 volunteer embroiderers worldwide, coordinated by the artist's mother and aunt: sisters and needleworkers Maureen and Margot (née) McGladdery from 2004 - 09)

and hear before you …

(in the Soundscape of a "compressed" Names Reading - 40 minutes - by 4 sets of male/female voices on a 2 speaker system at either ends of the chapel or installation gallery - my 2009 collaboration with Welsh/English/Australian psycho-acoustics expert Stephen Perrett, PhD).

Our stories about these people are a part of the living community of our daily lives --- of our pains and our hopes.

As an artist, it has been one of my most challenging tasks to create a safe and quiet space for reflection upon a traumatic period in history, through individual lives by their names… A period in history that has caused so many deaths in my motherland.

Northern Ireland has had a small population of about 1.5 million, since post World War II.

(according to Wikipedia, the population of Northern Ireland was estimated as being 1,760,000 in 2008, see: Northern_Ireland)

…It is a country far from Canada, which became my adopted homeland and formed my new identity as a child and teenager.

This memorial has now toured almost 10 locations and 4 countries.

Thank you to my 2 host organizations and Canon Graham Jackson who is conducting The Blessing today.

I hope as a small gathering we can remember the gift of a Canadian-Irish commitment to social justice, multi-culturalism and living in peace with your neighbour who might differ from you in terms of language, looks etc.

Before I end, … I wish to read 2 poems by Northern Ireland's Seamus Heaney which reference life/death and the handkerchief.

The Rescue (from Seeing Things, p. 45)

In drifts of sleep I came upon you

Buried to your waist in snow.

You reached your arms out: I came to

Like water in a dream of thaw.

and

from The Settings - verse xii (from Seeing Things p. 77)

Once and only once I fired a gun -

A . 22. At a square of handkerchief

Pinned on a tree about sixty yards away.

It exhilarated me - the bullet's song

So effortlessly at my fingertip,

The target's single shocking little jerk,

A whole new quickened sense of what rifle meant.

And then again as it was in the beginning

I saw the soul like a white cloth snatched away

Across dark galaxies and felt that shot

For the sin it was against eternal life -

Another phrase dilating in new light.

[author's italics]

This speech was translated into French and read aloud for the audience members,

by the Tour Guide-Interpreter of The Linen Memorial for the summer months (until Sept. 5th): Jean-Philippe, age 19. The second poem was read by Jean-Philippe.

He is contactable by < whatwherewho AT msn.com > Lycia can supply translation upon request.

The speech was given after an Introduction by

Dominique Roy, Director Biennale internationale du lin de Portneuf

www.biennaledulin.ca Please note:

official permission to read the poems were not obtained due to small size of gathering.

Canon Graham Jackson's words:

"O Lord, Our Heavenly Father, in whom we live and move and have our being, we give you beautiful thanks for:

• This private day of reflection
• This Ulster Linen Memorial, held in the purity of this Holy Church.

We give thanks, too, for the handwork and devotion of your servants Lycia and Dominique, and for the member's of this community and all those who have settled here.

Bless, O Lord, this Ulster Linen Memorial.

Bless all who have died in the "Time of Troubles" -

And all who now live with grief and the resulting trauma.

Bless the 50 worldwide needleworkers for their skill and faithfulness

And bless these handkerchiefs - durable symbols of goodbye

To those whose names now 'float in space'.

We ask you too, O, Lord, to bless all those who visit this memorial so lovingly displayed in this Holy Space may they be inspired to strive always for justice and peace and to follow Our Lord's command - 'To love our neighbours."

(The Grace) We ask all this in the name of The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit."

21. 07. 2011.

Graham Jackson (b. England 1935).

Vice Chair of Citadel Charity Foundation.

Member of Holland Centre Community Partners.

Layreader since 1980, Warden since 1995; Warden to diocesan layreaders.

Member of Quebec City's English-speaking community.

BA Bishop's University (1957);

MA McGill University (1962 and 1969)

Quebec City, Canada.