Placed on two walls of the staircase leading to the first floor of the Albert-Dumouchel building, King’s work juxtaposes techniques (photography and painting) that blur its reading. Quand fleurit l’espoir is composed of two photographs of different sizes that reconstruct a single environment, a single scene.

A springtime landscape inspired by the geographic and socio-cultural characteristics of the borough takes shape: the stretch of water evokes Rivière des Prairies, the blossoming flowers are a metaphor for development of this community, and the butterflies fluttering around the bush convey the effervescence of transformation.

“The transformation that occurs when I light and photograph these landscapes fascinates me, as does the tension between the visibility of the artifice and the effectiveness of the illusion.”

“I am interested in the tension between artifice and illusion generated. These large-format works allow viewers to imagine that they are actually entering these invented places. They are designed to appeal to memories of real landscapes and draw on other sources, such as film or various historical and literary art references, and each viewer decodes them differently, interpreting them from his or her own experience of landscape.”

The artwork was created in 2007 in the context of the L’art public dans les arrondissements de Montréal initiative launched as part of implementation of the City of Montreal’s Cultural Development Policy, with the goal of encouraging greater accessibility to arts and culture.