Guylaine Couture, “Le territoire des mauvaises herbes” (“The territory of weeds”)


The cover of the book. On the front through the sad cement plates, we discover a little piece of life.


A text page from the book


The second collage/engraving

text:
A slight green tint
color cracks.


The third collage/engraving

text:
A leaf ?
Green wants to resume
its territory
however minimal.


The last collage/engraving. If you look carfully, you will find some black lines on the edges of the page.

text:
A bad habit.
The “controller” starts
to draw a path…

Guylaine Couture
Montréal, Québec
gycouture.com

Le territoire des mauvaises herbes (The territory of weeds)
2016
old book, engraving, collages, hand print and laser print, thread, various paper
edition of 2
50 x 29 x 4 cm
23 x 29 x 4 cm

Artist statement

Guylaine started making artist books after years of drawings and collages. She took a workshop on binding which put her on the track of the artist’s book. It became her main discipline.

The artist juggles on subjects that question us, among which cancer, ecology, mourning or landscape. These themes ask for introspection. She delicately drafts the message, analyzes the meaning of words and images as well as developing the final form of the book with accuracy. The process requires time, reflection and several models in order for the desired result to be achieved.

Using old books, collage, drawing and manual printing, she tries to give a new direction, a second life to all kinds of material. Each book attempts to create a fusion between the contents and the container while questioning the manipulation of the object by the reader.

To create a book allows for an exchange with the reader both by the text and by the manipulation of it. Browse slowly one of its artists’ books is an experience, a conversation, a relationship with her and her concerns.

Guylaine Couture lives in Montreal, speaks French, teaches graphic design and shares her discoveries on her blog.

About Le territoire des mauvaises herbes

The territory of weeds is a book about the force of nature that always takes over. Man often tries to control its environment and uses concrete, asphalt and cement for low extended maintenance. What’s going on with the weather? Vegetation eventually find its way, often in unusual places.

This force of nature has always impressed me. I walk a lot in the city and I have respect for that bit of green trying to see the sun in a crack.

My book tells a little journey with six collages/engravings. I first prepared textures on different papers with various printing techniques. Thereafter, I made my collages, and I’ve added manual printing to the very end.

The cover is a book that I reversed, putting the inside to the outside, a bit like looking under the concrete. On the front through the sad cement plates, we discover a little piece of life.