| | | | | | | | Isabelle Hayeur
Pyrocumulonimbus, 2021
inkjet on photo paper mounted on aluminum panel
42" x 41" / 107 cm x 104 cm
© Isabelle Hayeur | | | | | | Wild Times | | | | 13 March – 13 May 2025 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | © Isabelle Hayeur | | | | | | Major bodies of works in Hayeur’s studio practice are focused on environmental changes caused by human development or natural causes. Her photographs document the destruction of natural habitats and whole ecosystems.
The exhibition titled "Wild Times" presented at the Vernon Public Art Gallery consist of photographs of landscapes affected by forest fires in Quebec and British Columbia in the 2020 and 2021 summer seasons.
The photographs from sites near Las Saint-Jean depict the after effects of the wildfire which changed the ecosystems in the largest forest fire in the province’s history. The images captured in 2021 show the active fires in British Columbia. The oppressive plumes of raising smoke changed the appearance of the landscape and the thick smoke was hardly penetrated by the sun’s rays. The toxic smoke drifted through large areas and the images captured from satellite views exemplified the apocalyptic scale of the burning infernos. | | | | | | | | | | © Isabelle Hayeur | | | | | | Hayeur’s focus on environmental changes is also a critique of environmental stewardship and management of the forests. Western Canada and the United States have been affected by the climate change and, specifically, prolonged droughts contribute negatively to the fragile ecosystems.
In her statement she points out that forest companies harvest timber from ecologically diverse ecosystems, but replant logged areas with monocrop species which inevitably do not contribute to the ecological diversity of healthy forests. She also questions the continuous suppression of forest fires which results in the excessive fuel load on the forest floor. Her works advocate indirectly for prescribed burning, a practice which reintroduces fire as natural part of a healthy ecosystem.
Hayeur’s exhibition "Wild Times" contains images of cataclysmic active fires and resulting destruction of natural environments. The images of burnt forests invoke the feeling of existential angst which serve as powerful memento mori for all humanity to contemplate.
Isabelle Hayeur is known for her photographs and her videos. Her work is situated within a critical approach to the environment, urban development and to social conditions. Since the late 1990s, she has been probing the territories she goes through to understand how our contemporary civilizations take over and fashion their environments. She is concerned about the evolution of places and communities in the neoliberal sociopolitical context we currently live in. Her artistic approach examines the relations between nature and culture in a world where their (false) opposition is a dominant ideology that still structures our Western societies. From a critical standpoint, she observes our destructive modes of organizing life through depletion, subjugation and non-reciprocity.
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