Winpegijooik/Nepisiguit
The river that rushes forward
Artists
Monique Roy
Gilbert Sewell
Nepisiguit
Nepisiguit becomes Bathurst.
Magnificent site with the three rivers: the Middle, the Tetagouche and the Nepisiguit.
Foaming waters, rough.
Dangerous river, really uneven river.
Indian island when there was still the domain Nicolas Denys.
A blue and magenta bay surrounded by headlands.
Rivers, portage, dune, ocean.
Gigue of the logs, the drave.
Paste and paper.
The miners digging into the ground to find copper, zinc and lead.
The University of Sacred Heart made history.
A community college takes his place.
The regional hospital is searching for an identity while the Orange town is taking on slowly the golden of the star.
The Acadians of the Chaleur region and of the Peninsula.
Are attached to it since centuries.
The identity is asserted, it is taking shape not only with the language.
But with the economy.
And the ghost ship, fire of the bad weather.
Talks about legends, magic, mysteries.
And of hospitality.
Bathurst, main place of the north where the Acadian recaptures town and region.
Nepisiguit should get his name back.
In a vast Pow-Wow at Pabineau falls.
Monique Roy
Montréal, Qc.
Originally from Caraquet, New Brunswick, Monique Roy has been living in Montreal for several years now. Self-taught, she took courses at Francine Labelle's studio between 1997 and 2003.
Among her favourite techniques are acrylics as well as mixed media in oil, acrylics and inks, using sponges, brushes, spatulas and rags.
The Nipisiguit is, first of all, a majestic river, sometimes bubbling. It is a salmon river. It is a place where the artist often went with her father, when she was a child, to visit Amerindian friends who lived there.
These expeditions with her father to Nipisiguit fed her early curiosity for the life that was offered to her eyes, this life in nature.
Gilbert Sewell
First Nation
Pabineau, N.B.
Gilbert Sewell is a Mi'kmaq Elder. He is a historian of First Nations history, storyteller, folklorist, nature guide, wood engraver and Mi'kmaq language instructor for the First Nations community of Pabineau, New Brunswick.
He has received numerous awards of merit during his lifetime such as the NB Human Rights Award, the NB Eco Award, the Orono, the Maine Museum Award and the Canadian Merit Award. These awards and recognitions were given to him for his outstanding dedication to the legacy of Mi'kmaq cultural expression.
In March 2004, Guilbert Sewell was awarded the Queen's Jubilee Medal by the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick.
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In the context of the exhibition Irréductibles racines, the artist is associated with the name "Nipisiguit".