Fields of memory, 2018

War: a massacre of people who do not know each other
for the benefit of people who know each other but do not massacre each other.

Paul Valéry (1871-1945)

Installation , Place de la Dauversière in Old Montréal.

Jardins de Métis and Château Ramezay.

As part of the 10th edition of the event Métis-sur-Montréal, the Château Ramezay – Historic Site and Museum of Montréal and Reford Gardens is presenting the installation Fields of Memory. This work, by artist Dominique Blain, provides an opportunity to reflect on the First World War. The installation will be presented at Place De La Dauversière from July 3 to November 18, 2018.

Fields of Memory commemorates the 100th anniversary of the 1918 Armistice, which marked the end of the First World War. The installation is inspired by the story of George Stephen Cantlie, a soldier from Montréal who picked flowers in the gardens, fields and hedges of war-torn Europe and sent them to his granddaughter in Montréal.  By evoking a landscape damaged by war, the work prompts a reflection on today’s reality, with a message that is both poetic and political.