Born and living in Montreal, Sophie Maheu has initial training in chemistry and oceanography. Since 2020, she has trained in visual arts and became a member of Atelier Circulaire in 2023. Sophie explores lithography under the mentorship of Carlos Calado and she has undertaken a research-creation project using small collagraphy matrices , created spontaneously and intuitively using both natural and synthetic materials. Their inking (intaglio then in relief) makes it possible to generate, in a single press pass, depth and richness of colors despite the use of a limited color palette.
Sophie's research-creation project is based on the semiotics of C. S. Pierce for whom thought is expressed through signs which are governed by their own grammar. Each matrix is assigned a word which becomes a sign. Since the matrices are abstract and without an explicit link with the sign they represent, there is a form of dissonance that sets in between the possibility of representation and the object. This dissonance is explored by the printing of individual sign matrices (monologues). The two-by-two relationship (dialogues) creates a particular dynamic for each couple. Finally, the polylogues with four matrices multiply the possibilities of relationships between the signs represented.
