Rêverie Acadienne (Acadian Daydream)

“Rêverie Acadienne” (Acadian Daydream) is a video installation that uses cultural signifiers to create an Acadian mythology steeped in traditional language. Functioning as a portal into another realm, this work explores the undocumented and lost histories of the Acadians who escaped and rebelled against their violent deportation by living in the woods. I am presenting a mythological Acadian forest dwelling character who has survived in the woods through the ages thanks to the historical kinship Acadians had with the land and layered with the evolution of centuries of cultural signifiers. This land being Mi’kma’ki the ancestral and traditional lands of the Mi’kmaq people.

Acadians have always faced contempt from both sides of the English/French binary, linguistically and socially identifying as neither. As a result, there is a huge lack of archives and recorded history, leaving large socio-historical gaps, yet Acadian culture has managed to persevere. The Acadian dialect called Chiac is a unique mixture of old Acadian French, modern French, and English words. As an act of cultural reclamation, this project uses Acadian Chiac sayings as the basis for storytelling.

“Rêverie Acadienne” unfolds the various layers entangled within a cultural legacy through the exploration of the interpersonal, cultural, historical and even environmental components that form the contemporary Acadian identity. The installation is both introspective and representative, offering a glimpse into a dreamlike realm that engages with relationships to land and nature through cultural symbolism.