Maude Pilon
“Jeunes phrases sur les flammes” et la farine
Instagram residency
From June 15 to August 15, 2025
@dazibaomtl
Maude Pilon proposes to approach the Instagram Residency as an expansion of her current research on the phenomenon of attraction and phototropism. “Jeunes phrases sur les flammes”¹ et la farine will reflect on literary figurations of the moth – those who seek the light, and those of the pantry variety, who seek obscurity – piecing together the writer’s entomological observations and textual findings.
The writing grounds lay beneath nightime’s mock moon, and a moth-adoring literature is foraged.
Under the lamppost, the betrothed triphene is devoured by the illusion of safety - I look up the etymology of immolation and find immolare: sprinkling flour on the sacrificial animal - The chrysope, disoriented for days, no longer leaves the white wall ("in spite of the width of the sky”²) – It's mentioned that flour was also sprinkled in the sacrificial fire – The bark fly holds to the trunk, directly in the light beam of a narrow ray that manages to penetrate the canopy – I return to the path of my first entry, immolation, now not so much in the sense of sacrifice, but closer to the disaster of attraction – The aphid wants the bright flower – Before being devoured, the betrothed triphene quivers, frenetic - It's not a dance, but a panic – No longer literature, but derangement – The moth lays its eggs in the flour, but the moth's morning is its end – Each new day, at breakfast, there, where one has panicked, empathy is always already lacking.
2. Virginia Woolf, The Death of the Moth and Other Essays (1942).
Maude Pilon is a writer. She works in a diverse range of collaborative, academic, union, medical and artistic contexts. Her writings take the form of arranged readings, recordings, printed works and research-creation contributions to publications and journals. Her current work focuses on voluntary decay in modern mystical thought, the diaries of writers and the writings of artists. Her most recent work is À midi, une joie, published by Herbes rouges (2024).
Dazibao thanks the artist for her generous collaboration as well as its advisory committee for their support.
Dazibao receives financial support from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts de Montréal, the ministère de la Culture et des Communications and the Ville de Montréal.
Dazibao acknowledges that it is located on the unceded territory of the Kanien'kehá: ka Nation and that Tiohtiá:ke / Montreal is historically known as a gathering place for many First Nations, and today, is home to a diverse population of Indigenous as well as other peoples. Guided by ethics of respect, listening, and awareness, Dazibao commits to a continued reflection regarding the deep-rooted and systemic challenges tied to accessibility and inclusivity in the arts and beyond, and endeavors to apply such reflections to all aspects of its activities and governance.