Through the exploration of her father’s workshop, Hélène Gaudy explores his lives, as well as everyone’s intimate relationship with memories.
It took her mind wandering to Île Jean-Charles to bring her face to face with her father. Who is this man with his quiet presence, never questioned? The first place to explore is his studio. The artist has gleaned and piled up all manner of objects in the midst of his canvases, so many imprints of the landscapes he has loved and inhabited. Then there are the notebooks he entrusts to her, revealing the man who knew nothing of his past, the idealistic and sentimental young adult, the teacher in Algeria, the husband with an unshakeable fantasy, and the poet. Little by little, their writing becomes intertwined.
Through the exploration of her father’s workshop, Hélène Gaudy delves into the archives of memory. She unravels the thread of a destiny: joys, doubts, wars, and history. While building her father a place safe from oblivion, she offers to the readers a sensitive, beautifully crafted text.
