Writer Élise Turcotte and photographer Judith Bellavance went on an in-depth exploration of the LeGros House, located in Gaspésie and uninhabited for forty years. The house had been left just as it was when people lived there, filled with everyday objects such as furniture and items of clothing. The two artists have documented these memories of the past and interpreted them in their own particular way. They invite us to open the logbook of their visit to this house and, in turn, to wander through this setting reconstructed through photographs and snippets of poetry.

In the exhibition La maison suspendue, the abandoned spaces are reimagined in the form of images into which the writer’s words are inserted. Although stripped of its daily human activity, the LeGros House still has much to say about its past. Inspired by ruins and what is destined to disappear, Turcotte and Bellavance have invented an alternate narrative about the building through objects, images and clothing. The silence of the empty house speaks louder than words, but the stories imagined by the artists and the ambience that they create, lead the viewer on a journey through the story of the home and its former residents.

Élise Turcotte is a writer and holds a PhD in literature from the Université de Sherbrooke. She has published collections of poetry, essays, children’s books, and several novels. In 2024, she was honoured with the prestigious Prix Athanase-David, an award recognizing an author’s contribution to Quebec literature.

Judith Bellavance earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Université Laval. Alongside her artistic career, she works in the funeral industry, an experience that informs and inspires her creative work. The fleeting nature of life intrigues her and her photographs feature objects and images that by their very nature, are destined to disappear. Her artistic projects have been exhibited around Quebec and in Europe.