St-Laurent's work reinforces the dangers of a recent phenomenon of abdication when it comes to public responsibility for the portrayal of individuals as either non-existent in a post-colonial world or resigned to some ill-considered category such as 'the gay community.' Putting emphasis on the other by reinforcing these very categories or by reinvesting the viewer in the process of identity deconstruction, St-Laurent's work addresses the audience candidly and like other forms of artistic delivery deserves a rightful place in contemporary art. His work does not patronize, but asks for reflexivity in the viewer's own belief system. His work utilizes a subtle interaction, wherein his performance illustrates the banal as intimate but also binary. St-Laurent's work is activated by demanding its viewing audiences be implicated in the narrative.

Interview with artist conducted via Email between March 14th and March 22nd, 2005:

How does the reception of your artwork change as you move from smaller or more conservative spaces (such as Alberta or New Brunswick) to potentially more accepting spaces like New York or larger cities in Canada?

I would say that the presentation of my work in Moncton in particular has had very mixed reviews. When I first started out as an artist, living in Memramcook, I was making work that was quite different from what was produced by the 'establishment,' who seemed very weary of my involvement, as I was using a more contemporary visual language than other Acadian artists in the New Brunswick. Being 'out' and addressing issues around homophobia in Acadie made a lot of people uneasy, certainly the queer artists who still work hard at keeping a straight personae for the public and even for their peers.

Slowly though, I've seen a shift at how my work is received/perceived-when I presented the installation Please Remember Me at the Festival international du cinéma francophone en Acadie last September (where I won the new media prize) the public responded in an overwhelmingly positive way. I think this reception from the public changed cultural workers' opinion on my work! It was very difficult for me to deal with having been ostricized from the region because of my work and my critical stance on many issues, and then seeing a sort of unexplained reversal.

I would tend to say that Canada in general doesn't really understand or appreciate the work that I do. Indeed, I do get more interesting dissemination opportunities from outside of the country (this is often the case for artists working in Canada, unless they have commercial representation).

I would say that there is a general conservatism that affects the Canadian art world in general. Museums are family-friendly and are reliant on ticket sales, commercial galleries are money-hungry and artist-run centres (and their curators) are emulating public galleries for opportunistic reasons. Even the Canada Council for the Arts is slowly becoming more conservative, requesting that artist have confirmed exhibitions even before they start producing a new body of work; all that to say that I will not likely be included in many exhibitions in this volatile climate.

This pushes me to present works outside of an institutional setting-I don't get artist's fees for most of these interventions, but I do get the results/reactions I am looking for! If given the chance, even a homophobe can relate to you if you present an image that is full of pathos.

Working in video as compared to performance seems to propose a very different relation between the viewer and the artist, an almost conflicting relationship. Do you feel that working in video somehow compromises this relationship or do you find something essential with video that cannot be achieved in a performative setting?

The reason I choose to sometimes work in video for my performance is that I have a privileged intimacy when only confronted by a camera-some of the work that I do is so personal, I don't think I would be able to perform in public as pointedly as I would for the camera. However, I am very aware of performative video's potential to be just as intimate as live performance. Sometimes, you can have an even better rapport with the viewer on video, as you are no longer this tangible 'performer' that resembles, in many cases, theatre performers. Members of the public now have the means to distance themselves from live performers because of theatre's reference.

That being said, there are definitely performances that can be more effective in the public sphere. I am very interested in presenting performances that look real and that are not perceived as art or performance art. The reactions you get are much more immediate.

I am planning to work with special effects make-up and costume artists in Hollywood (I know of a good gay one that did work for Aliens) when I finally think through a project called Monster. In full cinematic make-up and costumes designed in collaboration with these collaborators, I hope to intervene in parks and desolate spaces where the public would perceive me as the ultimate other: alien or monster. With some theatrical props, such as distorted vocals and mood lighting, my image will be created so to produce
an impossible illusion: the slimy, birthing alien or the screaming, dying monster. Of course, a group of people will assure that none of the viewers leave the site without being told what really happened. The reason that it has taken so long to realize this project is that I am still debating on some obvious ethical issues which I am not sure will be resolvable.