Territories of our collective imagination

Topoésie (Topoetry), by Marie-Claude De Souza

Toponymy & Poetry

This work explores local place names—informal names for places used colloquially that are not recorded in the official toponymy. Some places are informally named for their function, others for the importance they hold in the community. In every community that I visit, I install temporary poetic signs identifying place names that exist in the community’s minds but not on any official map. Working with local residents, I relay the significance of places that were previously anonymous or impersonal.

By poeticizing the place, I encourage passersby to reconsider their surroundings, while nurturing their ability to transform them. While I hope each intervention remains unique—shaped by the process in the field and the artistic traces left in situ—I also want to anchor it in a broader reflection on the ways we inhabit our territory. In the long term, this website aims to:

— create a digital archive, synthesizing each creative cycle;
— share regional specificities;
— highlight comparisons and distinctive elements for each community.

Suggest a place name.

Learn more about the artist and their approach.

The artist acknowledges that she is a visitor on the ancestral territory of the Mi’kmaq of Gespe’gewa’gi as part of the Topoésie project (2015–2017, 2021–2025, and 2025–2026 cycles).

The topoetic rest stop in the MRC de Bonaventure was made possible with the financial support of the Government of Quebec and the MRC de Bonaventure, through the MRC de Bonaventure’s Cultural Development Agreement.