As part of this micro-publishing residency at Centre SAGAMIE, Nathalie Lavoie revisits her floral photography work. Transforming the initial images to create original photos of flowers that magnify their mysterious character, she then reproduces them in coloured pencils as a graphic complement. Poetic texts by Susie Levesque are also featured.

“The famous naturalist Darwin considered that there was an ‘abominable mystery’ in the evolution of flowers, when he was trying to understand the origin and rapid diversification of flowering plants all over the planet. Although their secrets have only recently been revealed, they remain as fascinating as ever, for beneath their fragile appearance lies a formidable adaptive efficiency. We'd even go so far as to say that they defy the limits of what's possible. What if, through contact with them, I acquire an adaptability to life? Could this be the source of my attraction to flora?” Nathalie Lavoie

The book L'attrait végétal is available at the Point de suspension bookstore in Chicoutimi and via the leslibraires.ca website.

Nathalie Lavoie holds an MFA from Université du Québec à Chicoutimi. Prior to this, she obtained a multidisciplinary BA in Anthropology and Psychology from Université Laval in Québec City, as well as a major in Art History from the same institution. She was also coordinator of the Art-image exhibition centre at the Maison de la culture de Gatineau from 1995 to 2000. The latter date coincides with a return to her home region, after several years in an urban environment. She moved to the Saguenay region, to an ancestral workshop-house in a rural and woodland setting, in order to devote herself to her artistic practice. Through residencies, performances and exhibitions, she combines her interest in plants, the creative act, the land and the notion of dwelling in a variety of contexts. Nathalie Lavoie lives and works in Saguenay-Lac Saint-Jean.