Johanne Chagnon has had a long career as an artist working in many different media. today, we’re having a chat about her experimental film, Promenade en forêt, which shows a haunting journey through a forest. Thank you for sitting down with us today.
UniversalCinema Magazine (UM): Can you speak about the different forms of media that went into making this film? You seem to incorporate film, sound design and sculpture among others.
(JCH): I like experimental video because it gives me the possibility of integrating into the same work several elements of my diverse artistic practice (installation, sculpture, painting, photography, writing, performance, movement, voice). Although it lacks the “direct action in front of an audience” component of performance art, video allows me to develop more complex symbolic universes. I made all the elements of this video in my studio, in addition to working on video and audio editing. I work alone, which leaves a lot of freedom and allows me to immerse myself in my personal universe. If I worked with a team, even a small one, I would have to structure my process more, which is not my way of doing things. My process is intuitive. I consider that I work with videographic material in the same way as any other material: juxtaposing, associating, superimposing elements to end up making a poetically coherent whole.
(UM): On your website, you mention that this excursion into the forest is “à la fois troublant et apaisant,” or, both disturbing and calming. This seems paradoxical. Could you expand on that idea?
(JCH): At first, the atmosphere can seem disturbing. There is obviously no question of a trivial bucolic stroll. What is this strange animated forest, crossed by ghostly shapes? But the “walk” evolves to end with a serene appeasement represented by stillness, a kind of gentle death where dangers and constraints no longer exist. The whole video is crossed by a deep breath, this internal breath that accompanies us all our life and allows us to pass through the various types of forests that we encounter on our way. By calmly accepting events, whatever their nature, we can find relief.
(UM): These seems to be some connection between the faceless woman’s hair, the hair hanging from the trees and the dead fox, which is also hanging from the trees. Is this meant to show our animal nature? Could you speak about this?
(JCH): The universe in this video can also be seen as a form of representation of an inner universe, mine in particular. As a form of personal quest within a symbolic nature where trees are made up of human attributes. The character whose journey we are following and his environment find themselves closely linked, intertwined. The trees in this forest are also a representation of myself – in connection with my own long, white hair. Likewise, the large organic black tree is a living entity that also represents a part of me, my real hair being caught in the red veins that irrigate it. The wolf is an accomplice and protective animal figure that I have used extensively in my previous projects as a symbol of reclaiming our instinctive nature.
(UM): The tree similarly appears to be like an animal with thick red veins or arteries. Is part of what you’re showing here the connectedness of all living things and the ever-present threat of death?
(JCH): Death is an integral part of life, even if we tend to socially avoid the question. And in this video, the two states intersect and connect. And flowing through it is the red: that of the blood which heals the wounds, circulates in the veins of the black tree, tints the bare branches. I also cannot help but be imbued with the threat posed to our lives by the imminent collapse of our world which will lead to major social, economic and environmental crises, the consequences of the unbridled human activity which is destroying the planet. We socially deny this situation, still hoping it can improve while it gets worse! This denial prevents us from taking the true measure of what is happening to us and acting accordingly, which will involve mourning our way of life.
(UM): If I were to watch this video with no context, I would think there was at least a hint of witchcraft in the background. Is that part of the theme here?
(JCH): Not as such, intentionally. I work according to an intuitive process, not preconceived. But it is true on the other hand that I like to create ambiguous and dark universes, to dive into darkness to illuminate areas of fears, and bring them to the surface.
(UM): The sound design, if I may say so, is quite unsettling. We hear sounds of the forest, like branches breaking, but also haunting guttural sounds, and heart beats. Could you tell us what you were trying to achieve with these sounds?
(JCH): The sound environment supports the “disturbing” part of this video and further accentuates the contrast with the quieter end. The cry at the very beginning introduces this atmosphere which testifies to an unknown fear. Sounds of nature (water, birds, wind) and human sounds (breathing, noises with the mouth, grunts) intersect, just as the shapes in this video overlap and intertwine.
(UM): Would you be able to tell us what the yellow object is near the end of the film?
(JCH): This element comes from the fact that I need to work with my hands, and not only on the computer, to build imaginary objects which most of the time have an organic appearance inspired by nature or the human body, without being able to identify them. Like eerie growths to live with. While making this yellow object, I thought of a still bloody tumor, extracted from the tree (and the character), which is kept at a distance. This is not without reference to my personal experience with cancer.
(UM): The film has won many accolades from film festivals. Congratulations. You must have heard many interpretations of the film, since it is clearly very open to interpretation. What was the wildest thing you’ve heard someone say about this film?
(JCH): I would say this one : « We find ourselves cast into the lair of what appears to be some kind of animalistic serial killer.» And this one also : «There are, hanging from the trees, other scalps of long white hair and we wonder if these were previous wandered who did not survive.»
By: Darida Rose
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