L'hôtel SofiCalle

Artist installation that deals with role-playing, disguises, guilt and the fear of discovery- issues that have emerged in Greenwood's previous work.

Additional Information

L'hôtel SofiCalle, installation detail

During a stay in Paris in the winter of 1997-98, artist Vera Greenwood undertook a strange activity: she began to tail the French artist Sophie Calle. This project extends the strategies of Calle, who bases her art practice on incursions into the private life of unknown people chosen by chance and without their knowing. In the installation L' hôtel SofiCalle, Greenwood refers specifically to La Filature, a photographic and textual work by Calle relating to surveillance of herself. In 1981, the artist had her mother hire a private detective, who followed Calle. Calle's installation consisted of the photographs the investigator took and his notes, as well as hers, regarding her movements, or more precisely where she led him, as she knew she was being followed. This installation documents Greenwood's adventures in Paris as she illustrates her position as detective with numerous pieces of evidence: black and white photographs and other objects relating to this surveillance. The work deals with role-playing, disguises, guilt and the fear of discovery, issues that have emerged in Greenwood's previous work. Born and raised in Calgary, Greenwood now lives in the Gatineau Hills of Quebec. She has a Master's degree in fine arts from Concordia University and her work has developed from printmaking into a multi-media installation practice.