Matshinanu / Nomades

''Have you met any Indians, by chance?

-Yes, but certainly not by chance.''

The voyage and the territory are one in the same/themselves woven with bloodlines and the threads of dreams. We thus require a guide, a voice with an authentic accent, a carrier of the language of the earth. Tuned to the breath of the stars and the powers of the grand rivers, Joséphine Bacon, an Innu poet, writes in the eternal language of the birth of the world. Her words have the fragile grace of a canoe's sinuous framework; a light wing that skims the water above the shelves of nostalgia.

She dreams that which she sees and she sees that which the earth dreams.

Her poetry touches the vibrant heart of the territory. She enables us to hear the songs of those who refuse banishment, the liquid whistling of the salmon who escapes the net, the simple things that have forever punctuated/infused/paced/ the rhythm of the daily life of the Innu.

The journey thus takes place between the past of the photographs and the present of the poem. Joséphine Bacon is of the walking poets whose steps are recognized by the earth, as she states so well. Her voyage is timeless. She advances towards her life story/personal history, with the help of the wind, humble and discreet. The mystery of a being is a lamp that lights the path. Entering into the poetry of Joséphine Bacon, we in turn become the nomads.

Michel X. Côté

This exhibition is a realization of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BanQ) and Land InSights on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the First Peoples' Festival. This exhibition is also installed/presented in the windows of the service counters, levels 1 to 4 of the Grande Bibliothèque.