The 44.4 Mother/Artist Collective presents

Now I Know What Nothing Is

Espace d’exposition Art-image

Gatineau, QC

September 17-November 1, 2026

Artist Talk: Sunday, Nov 1, 2026, 6-8 pm
Dates: Sept 17 - Nov 1, 2026
Location: Centre d’exposition Art-Image, 855 Bd de la Gappe, Gatineau QC
Viewing Times: Weekdays - 1 - 8pm, Weekends 1 - 5 pm

About the Show

The title of the exhibition, Now I Know What Nothing Is, was inspired by a photograph published in Patti Smith’s A Book Of Days. In the image, Smith sits in a chair, chin in the heel of her hand. The caption reads:

This is just thinking of nothing. I remember my mother sitting like this. And I would ask, what is it Mommy? And she would say, Oh nothing. And now I know what nothing is.’

We all have that childhood experience of watching a parent disappear silently into their own interior world, not understanding it, and then one day, when we’re older than we ever thought possible, recognizing it from the inside.

For me, that silence is wrought by accumulated feelings - love, joy, loss, disappointment - all wound together. Some days, I don’t recognize my own heart inside all of that.

One heart here is mine. And the rest belong to everyone who knows that kind of silence.