Sylvie Belanger
(1951–)
(–2020)
Sylvie Belanger
1951–2020
Sylvie Bélanger (1951–2020) was a Canadian interdisciplinary artist born in Le Gardeur, Québec. Bélanger was known for her use of sound, video, photography, and installation.
Bélanger went on to study at Concordia University in Montréal and earned her BFA in sculpture. She later received an MFA from York University, with a focus on media art installation.
Bélanger lived and worked in Toronto as an Associate Professor of Visual Studies at SUNY Buffalo until her retirement in 2017 whereafter she moved to Montréal. Before joining SUNY Buffalo she taught at The University of Windsor, San Francisco Arts Institute, University of Toronto/Sheridan College and Concordia University.
Bélanger’s art installations use photography, video, audio and computer imaging processes, to explore the digitally produced image, its relation to reality, and the inherent tension between representation and presentation. She investigates the constant transformations that affect our understanding of personal, cultural and social identities. Her work was influenced by the French theorist Roland Barthes and his commentaries on deconstructing the symbols of bourgeois life and his development of the connection between photography and reality.
In 2002 Bélanger was commissioned to create public art for the Bessarion subway station in Toronto. The work is a series of friezes of hands, feet and backs of heads, which represent commuters who frequent the station. The feet images appear on the concourse level while the heads appear on the platform level. The hand images appear along the stairs between the Sheppard Avenue side entrance/exit and the concourse.
Her work can be found in numerous permanent collections around the world, including the Gemeente Museum, the Netherlands; Za Moca Foundation, Japan; Oakville Galleries, Canada; Windsor Art Gallery, Canada; Musée du Québec, Canada; Galeria Oliva Arauna, Spain; Art Bank of Canada; MacDonald Stewart Art Center, Canada; Woodlawn Arts Foundation, Canada; York University, Canada and private collections.
Bélanger was the recipient of the Stauffer Prize awarded by the Canada Council for the Arts.