Each year, millions of birds perish mid-flight when they crash into the large glass windows that have become emblematic of power, wealth, and luxury in both modern and post-modern architecture vernacular. arkadi lavoie lachapelle’s melancholic music video is an homage to these creatures of the sky, a celebration of their lives and an indictment of their untimely demise. In the dead of the night, their ritual of mourning draws on the importance of using reflective materials, like bird stickers, to avert the easily avoidable casualties that transparent surfaces like panes of glass in skyscrapers and other buildings engender. Thoughtful and deliberate, this performance reminds us that we are not alone in the woods, and that it is important to think about the non-human lives we affect with our mere presence and being.
arkadi lavoie lachapelle was born in Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang/Montréal. After growing up in the countryside, the artist moved back to the Quebec metropolis, earning a Bachelor’s degree in visual and media arts from the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). Their transdisciplinary works are rooted in performance and bring together action, object, and poetry, creating complex images that address biopolitical issues. They observe, explore and contextualize common spaces with empathy using a queer and feminist imaginary.
