Starting November 5, artist Fabienne Legrand's exhibition Il en reste quelque chose opens at the Musée régional de Vaudreuil-Soulanges. The vernissage will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. that day, with Ms. Legrand, who wanted to give seniors back their power to shine... or not.

In an interview with Néomédia, the artist tells us a little about the history of this project. The original idea was to demonstrate that seniors can shine just as brightly as younger people, and some thirty works will be exhibited at the museum.

"One day, I heard someone say that beauty was associated with youth. At the time, I was working at the Musée régional, giving history workshops to the elderly. I loved seeing their memory-filled eyes shine," she recounts.

She adds: "My whole artistic approach revolves around memories. So I wanted to see them strong, solid and luminous, because I said to myself: 'They haven't finished shining'; that was the starting point for my project".

Then her father developed Alzheimer's disease, and over time his memory deteriorated. And almost in spite of herself, her work changed: "It came out of my brush, I had no choice. When my father declined, I wanted to continue with my portraits, but lost looks gave way to strong, brilliant ones", she continues.

Often, her father no longer recognizes her, but suddenly, in the midst of a family joke, he starts laughing... "and then I recognize him, it's still him in the depths of his eyes, 'there's something left'", she explains, moved.

For her exhibition, she created the mini-series Les puissants: "These works are made on rice paper; it's symbolic because even if rice paper seems fragile, it's resistant", she explains. The six figures were created in low-angle (from bottom to top) and will be installed higher up on the walls at the exhibition, which opens shortly.

Ms. Legrand took classes with a local photography specialist, Émilie Léger, and learned the cyanoytype technique, which involves making so-called botanical photos, using the sun with translucent elements from nature. Characters are painted onto these images.

The result is a magical, timeless effect, which fans will be able to admire at the Musée régional from November 5.

This is Fabienne Legrand's fourth solo exhibition in the region: at the Maison Trestler, the Maison Félix-Leclerc, the Marie-Uguay library and the Cafexo boutique-café. She currently teaches visual arts at Collège Bourget in Rigaud.

Admission to the museum will be free for the vernissage. There will be an artist talk on January 14, from 2 to 4 p.m., when the usual admission fees will apply.

For more information, visit the Musée régional website (mrvs.qc.ca) or Fabienne Legrand's Facebook page.