Bernard Lapointe
About the artist:
Bernard Lapointe is a palliative-care physician in Montreal. “After a few years as a family physician, at the dawn of the AIDS epidemic in Montreal, I found my practice very rapidly transforming from a downtown STD practice to palliative care. I still remember, vividly, those years: the pain, the dynamic communities rising to the challenge, the creativity of the various artists fueling the fight. The slogan was ‘Silence = Death,’ and our voices did not allow for silence. Caring for the terminally ill year after year carries its price. The urge to live fully today, to expand beyond my limitations and shortsightedness, has allowed me to outgrow the sorrow. This is why my camera and photography became so important in my life, allowing me to transcend the harsh reality of illness by first reconnecting with life, through wildlife and garden photography.”
About the artwork:
” ‘Aeterna’ is from a series titled Elysion, shot in the cemeteries of Mont-Royal during a couple of good snowstorms. The photographs are concerned with transmutation, particularly at a time when I knew that my mother was living her last months. As I write these lines I am showing twenty-five works from that series at the Galerie du Plateau in Montreal, sharing the stillness of lives interrupted.”
Visuals editor:
Justin Sanders
