Marion Lessard

Marion Lessard is a collective whose work in video, installation, performance, drawing and literature deals with the logical and formal structures that underpin the notion of identity. By defying all common sense and performing a collective identity of five people in a single body on a daily basis, Marion Lessard reveals the paradoxes of identification and naming that shape our relationship to the world and to others.

Their work, which plays with determinations, is both an expression of and a critique of Western canonical forms of the subject and its institutions. By making use of conventions to turn them against themselves, Marion Lessard engages in a critical practice characterized by playfulness, astonishment, and encounters, in order to open up a dialogue using parody as a critical tools. In this perspective, the work of the Marion Lessard collective is not limited to a single discipline, but rather responds to specific contexts in order to reveal their formal and conceptual a priori.

Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Family Foundation is the generous sponsor of Marion Lessard’s studio in 2022. Marion Lessard’s studio was sponsored by the generous support of Cogir Immobilier in 2021 and Québecor in 2019 and 2020.

Marion Lessard is a collective of five people, some of whom studied philosophy at Université de Montréal, but all of whom hold a Master's degree in Studio Arts from Concordia University. Their artistic projects and academic careers have been awarded numerous grants and distinctions. The Collective is in residence in Montreal Studio long term residency program at Fonderie Darling until 2023.