“At the edge of Louisiana, an island bears my father’s name. Every day, it sinks a little further beneath the waters.”
His mind had to drift all the way to Jean-Charles Island for him to find himself face-to-face with his father. Who is this man, with his calm presence, never questioned? The first place to explore is his workshop. For as long as she can remember, the artist has collected and piled all sorts of objects amidst his canvases—traces of the landscapes he loved and inhabited. There are also the notebooks he entrusted to her, which reveal the boy who knows nothing of his past, the idealistic and sentimental young man, the teacher in Algeria, the husband with unwavering whimsy, and the poet. Gradually, their writings intertwine.
Through this paternal geography, Hélène Gaudy becomes an archivist of memory. She unfolds the thread of a destiny: the joys, the doubts, the wars, and history that passes, altering the course of things.
By daring to take inventory, she offers her father a place impervious to oblivion. And to the readers, a sensitive and beautifully written text.
