Hartog-Gautier, Nathalie. Encounter – Objects taken on board, Lapérouse Museum 2005-6, ill. (catalogue)

For any project there is always a preparation, the beginning of research, the encounter of many ideas that triggered my imaginations and the choices I had to make.

I started reading Lapérouse’s diary and researching his voyage which was carefully prepared, from the studding of the vessels, to sustain extreme weathers, to the intriguing list of objects taken on board for the purpose of gifts and trade. This cargo was chosen from previous navigators’ accounts of their explorations and also for its economic value and prestige. These two elements were symbols of geographic and human encounters that I represented in my artworks.

Many of the objects I used were also gifts to me. They were objects valued by the donors that have stayed with them for many years or generations. These objects/gifts then, changed their history as they were transformed and given different properties: dress making beads became necklaces; necklaces were dismantled to become other necklaces, fishing hooks and buttons art pieces. Explorer’s list of seeds and plants remain to be read like poetry, reminiscent of old French childhood songs. The use of the objects taken on board has taken me on a journey of my own, of discovery between dream and reality.

The process of the artworks is to trigger curiosity and interest; to make the viewers come closer to the objects presented and to realise there is something else they can see, a map or the faint image of a map under the object. It may be where an encounter happened between the donors and the donees, that implicitly of how, over time, the gift developed a shift in the economy and trade and brought about cultural changes. The notion of the traded object is still valid today in our global market and, in our encounters with other cultures; we should gain a better understanding of ourselves and others. But one must be careful to ensure that the terms of trade under which gifts are bestowed upon recipients do not come at too great a cost.

Nathalie Hartog-Gautier