Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean
Speech on the Occasion of the Presentation of the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts
Rideau Hall, Wednesday, March 22, 2006
It is an honour for me and my husband, Jean-Daniel Lafond, to welcome to Rideau Hall some of the greatest artists of our time. Particularly since this residence houses roughly one hundred works of art by Canadian painters and visual artists, past and present, who enrich our collective imagination. Take this painting, for example, by Jean‑Paul Lemieux, that I was delighted to rediscover this fall in the Confederation Centre of the Arts, in Charlottetown, and that depicts one of the turning points in the building of this country. I am so pleased that the Centre agreed to lend us this work, and that so many other museums and galleries also lend us incredible works of art so that the 200 000 or so visitors who pass through these halls every year will have the opportunity to appreciate the luminous beauty and scope of Canadian art.
Sometimes, while walking through this building, I am surprised to find myself slowing down or stopping to contemplate a painting, a print or a sculpture. It may be simply that the light in the room has changed from the day or week before, but it is as though the work itself has transformed, as though I were seeing it for the first time. I sometimes notice a detail that I had missed up to then, and the work takes on new meaning. These creations, which I walk past every day, are alive, in motion, despite the fact that they may be hanging on a wall or installed in a static space. These works have a life of their own and reinvent themselves each time we look upon them.
Reinventing the world—is that not what art does? As a journalist, I had to report on events, facts, situations. I had to strip reality down to its barest essentials, as difficult as it may be to face, in order to provoke thought. You, on the other hand, substitute invention for the everyday. You chip away at reality, letting imagination shine through in new and exciting ways. In the words of Jacques Ferron, a writer who has greatly inspired me and my husband, you show us [translation] “the life beneath the surface.” You reveal a part of the invisible, the intangible, the essential to those who come to see the world through your eyes, bringing together a vision of the world, a viewpoint of time, a unique insight into space for so many.
This is why your work and your role in today’s society—a society plagued by over‑consumption and the fleeting images put before us—are so very important. You—artists, painters, sculptors, filmmakers—you invite us to look beneath the surface, into the deepest reaches of the world. The images you conjure are thought‑provoking. They draw us in, encouraging us to join you as you search for meaning. Often, this pilgrimage for the truth can be disturbing, provocative, raise questions, or challenge firmly held beliefs. This journey that we share with you, your personal journey, is in itself a lesson in freedom, a lesson in freedom that is so essential in this day and age when we are under pressure to conform and are bombarded by images in our market‑driven society.
Through the freedom of creation, anything goes, anything is possible. It is a universe that flouts conventions, norms and preconceived ideas, not out of bravado but to relish exploration and the joy of discovery. This place, a place of expression and openness, does not exist on the edge of life; it is fuelled by it. The richer it is in new perspectives and ideas, the more it helps humanity to flourish, to excel. This is why the vitality and diversity of a society’s art speaks volumes about its democratic health and its ability to innovate and renew itself.
In every age, artists have surmounted obstacles in their path, whether censorship or poverty. Having lived under a merciless dictatorship, I know the threat posed by artists to those who hold fast to one-track, totalitarian thinking. Many wanted them silenced, subjugated, even annihilated. But artists create against all odds, impelled by this simple and unique wish to bear witness to their vision of the world and to leave a record of it for generations to come. Their courage, passion and commitment are a promise for the future for our societies. Is this a “useless expenditure,” to quote Roland Barthes? We must answer this question individually and collectively.
Today, I pay tribute to you on behalf of all Canadians who, like me, could not live without you. To Mowry Banden, who influenced an entire generation of sculptors in Canada and the United States, thank you. To Micheline Beauchemin, who uses yarn, so utilitarian and universal, to weave light into our public spaces, thank you. To Vera Frenkel, who questions identities and belonging using cutting‑edge multimedia techniques, thank you. To Peggy Gale, who is a self-described “art historian of the present” who makes art accessible to as many people as possible, thank you. To Kenneth Lochhead, whose imposing body of work, spanning over half a century, is continuously reinventing itself and pushing back the boundaries of painting, thank you. To Arnaud Maggs, who examines time in an infinite number of portraits and sequences, thank you. To Peter Wintonick, who redefines culture by exploring new possibilities in documentary filmmaking, thank you.
Because of you, we can live a better, fuller life. Without you, our imagination today would be impoverished, and we would certainly be less free to aspire to the best within ourselves. May your example give us and our children a spark of hope that one day, the entire world may reflect the flame burning within you. Our world desperately needs you to remind us that the price of invention cannot be measured and that civilizations are not defined solely by their economic success.
I would now like to invite my husband, Jean‑Daniel Lafond, to speak. As a documentary filmmaker, he has spent over twenty years contemplating the power and scope of images in our societies, broadening our perceptions or even calling them into question. My husband believes very strongly in the fundamental role of artists in our world, a world that is all‑too‑often inclined to trivialize their experience or relegate them to the shadows of memory. Jean-Daniel, if you please.
