Reno Salvail
at Marsoui
EXHIBITION
I became the volcano
Reno Salvail, Québec City, Québec | vuphoto.org
For more than 30 years, Reno Salvail (1947-2023) travelled the globe to connect telluric, cosmic, and anthropological phenomena. He sought to link human visions and interventions with the transformations that meteorites, volcanoes and deserts bring to the world. In his last 15 years the artist battled against an insidious and implacable enemy, multiple myeloma. His body, bruised but tenacious, became a field for research as well as a metaphor for the universe, evoking milky ways, craters in the Earth’s crust, stones, or meandering rivers.
I became the volcano first took the form of a photographic book published by the center VU in Québec City, from which the selection of images presented here is drawn.
This exhibition is presented in collaboration with VU, a center for the dissemination and production of photography, and Rencontres de la photographie en Gaspésie.
EXHIBITION AT RENCONTRES
I became the volcano
Born in Plessisville, Québec, Reno Salvail (1947–2023) was an artist who lived and worked in Québec City, dedicating his practice to viewing planet Earth as a site of creation, a source of inspiration, and the raw material of his work. Photography accompanied Reno Salvail throughout his artistic journey, with a practice that unfolded through numerous explorations – often leading to expeditions in remote regions, in situ interventions, and the production of texts, videos, sculptures and installations.
His work has been exhibited in Québec, across Canada, in the United States and in Europe. He was the recipient of several grants and awards from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, and the French Ministry of Culture.
VU is an artist-run center in Québec City whose mission is to promote and support research and creation in the field of photography by working with artists and contributing to the dissemination of and reflection on their work.
