This “tree-sculpture,” as the artist calls it, is composed of four steel poles around which a horizontally deployed spiral, also made of steel beams, unfurls a series of words. The words chosen by Duval, and executed in aluminum painted red, orange, and yellow, are “globe,” “exposition,” “octave,” “route,” “gamma,” “ellipse,” “solstice,” “variation,” “art,” “nature,” “image,” “escapade,” and “relation.” Creating a colourful whirlpool, these words form, out of order, an acrostic that pays tribute to Georges Vanier. The artwork thus refers to the cultural centre bearing the name in front of which it is installed. Readable in both English and French, the words are dedicated to the residents of the Little Burgundy neighbourhood who, for more than a century, have formed a cultural and linguistic mosaic. The artwork highlights the presence of the cultural centre in the urban space, and at the same time it symbolically combines the various functions of this heritage site (library, exhibition space, and cultural centre).

Words are an essential aspect of Duval’s work. When she contextualizes them or puts them in relation with objects and images, words become a material that is poetic and highly meaningful.