Trauma can become a Shared Artwork: All art forms, from the most sophisticated to the most accessible, carry within them the potential for awareness and healing.
The Hippocampus project is a musical creation project aimed at raising awareness of the paths taken by survival after rape by combining technological arts and popular song. The album, which is scheduled for release in the fall of 2022, includes 9 songs as well as testimonies from survivors.
A while ago, Marie Martine Bédard experienced a violent trauma, an armed sexual assault that put her life in danger, and for which her journey of reconstruction lasted more than twenty years.
The projet
It’s in the spring of 2020 that The Hippocampe project begins in collaboration with the NXI Gestatio laboratory team led by Nicolas Reeves. For the experiment and to collect data, Marie Martine Bédard is equipped with an EEG Helmet ( Electroencephalography is a monitoring method to record the electrical activity of the brain) during a series of experiences during which she successively recalls the different stages of her journey, from the initial traumatic event to the present day.
The electrical signals are then transformed into melodic and rhythmic embryos. These last will then serve either as a basic framework for the composition of the various pieces or as an instrument in its own right.
Music Heals
Every song has the potential to be a conversation starter for victims.
Breaking the silence is the first step in healing.
Marie Martine Bédard has joined forces with RQCalacs (a non-profit organization that helps victims of sexual violence) in order to promote the cause that is so dear to her heart. Fundraising campaigns will be organized periodically.

This project was made possible by the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

