Les Fermières Obsédées is a collective made up of two visual artists (Annie Baillargeon & Eugénie Cliche).
Using the means of action art, the F.O. sustain a progressive project, placing the rungs from appearance to appearance. They have created an image based on a uniform in constant evolution and mutation with their approach. Through this uniform, Les Fermières become, in a sense, complicit with or victim of, the same narrative track; uniformed, they meld into one another evoking a participative endorsement of their individual behaviours. A tidal effect comparable to the mass standardization and lethargy of our modern societies. With time, this emblem is submitted to the degeneration and temporality of multiple fights and stands taken. Approaching cliché, the woman's image represented by the wearing of this uniform serves them as matter to transgression; they desire the reinvention and the overthrowing of this image in all of its contemporaneousness. The F.O.'s performances are a crossover of several disciplines such as dance, theatre, music and visual arts. They create poetic and abstract images, drawing on concrete social positions as their source.
Their shows resemble living "tableaux" where are presented multiple, symbolic and metaphorical images, alluding to our ever-changing world, critiquing north American mass culture and its lack of intrinsic values along the way. The F.O. present choreographed cadences inspired by military and conquering attitudes, at times stereotypical or parodical, but always well calculated. They propose each of their performances as an attempt to define themselves in the moment, in link with their current preoccupations. They employ a visual language that allies the tragic, the burlesque, rhythm, and the use of popular symbols. They bring about a reflection of the state of the world and the tradition of foolishness in which we are anchored. The F.O. deploy here as a charging army, and there, as three, lost and faded souls. Via a multitude of disconcerting contrasts, they succeed in keeping the audience breathless, as it has no way of knowing in which direction it will be propelled. Purified and schematic gestures accompany blinding flashes which fill your eyes the space of a short time. With a certain irony, they criticize our entertainment industry which proposes primary stereotypes as a foundation. Through a dishevelled play they incarnate diverse attitudes, attempting to establish an equilibrium between the forces and weaknesses that characterize the human being. Performances with the look protests, there. Rupture with our borders and all we took for granted. Mocking ourselves, trying to fight the ideologies to which we do not correspond by thwarting acquired senses and symbolism, to withstand the fall which threatens us at every moment.
Since 2001 Les Fermières Obsédées have presented their work in various events in Québec, Canada, Wales, Northern Ireland, Australia and Poland.
Australie et en Pologne.
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