Black Arms

As author Aline Gélinas suggests, the way in which Betty Goodwin places the body in her oeuvre is reminiscent of dance. “Bruised, broken bodies that float on immense sheets of translucent paper barely washed with colour, bodies eroded, sometimes mutilated, sketched, erased and then redrawn, but always in tension.” Goodwin’s Black Arms was transposed into the world of contemporary dance by Quebec choreographer and dancer Paul-André Fortier, who in 1993 was inspired by it to create his choreography entitled Bras de plomb [Leaden Arms]. The two artists worked together on the physical blocking of the work, after Goodwin had designed the costumes and the set for Fortier’s piece.