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What do you do when your hope for the future starts to feel fragile? And what can a painting, an act of remembrance, or a bottle of perfume do about it?
Duncan MacKenzie sits down with Haitian-born artist Manuel Mathieu at Calgary’s Esker Foundation for a conversation that moves between studio practice and the world beyond it. They begin with Mathieu’s presentation at the 2026 Venice Biennale, including GENOCIDE and his mosaic Abundance and Drought, then explore archives, erasure, political power, the responsibilities of artists, and whether art can make room for disagreement without closing down empathy.
Mathieu talks through the evolution of his paintings, from highly controlled marks to surfaces that scrape, drip, burn, and resist their original plans. He argues that figuration is not abstraction’s opposite so much as one of its tools. He and Duncan work through the possibilities of beauty, Haitian Vodou, spirituality, the legacy of Toussaint Louverture, and the difference between changing the world and changing the lives of the people near you.
Name Drops and links
- Manuel Mathieu – https://www.manuelmathieu.com/
- Clyfford Still – https://clyffordstillmuseum.org/
- Kara Walker – https://www.karawalkerstudio.com/
- Kent Monkman – https://www.kentmonkman.com/
- Titus Kaphar – https://www.kapharstudio.com/
- Willem de Kooning – https://www.dekooning.org/
- Christian Boltanski – https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/personne/z88xAxH
- Francis Bacon – https://www.francis-bacon.com/
- Toussaint Louverture – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toussaint_Louverture
- Audre Lorde – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audre_Lorde
- bell hooks – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_hooks
- Esker Foundation – https://eskerfoundation.com/
- Pilar Corrias – https://www.pilarcorrias.com/
- Manuel Mathieu Parfums – https://manuelmathieuparfums.com/en
- Episode 974: Mari Eastman - October 5, 2026
- Episode 973: Manuel Mathieu - October 5, 2026
- Episode 972: Jeanette Andrews - September 28, 2026
