Portfolio

Yogi in Sacred Contemplation Digital Photography, 2013, Varanasi, India

This work presents an intimate portrait of a yogi deeply absorbed in reading a sacred Sanskrit text. It reflects and illuminates centuries of spiritual tradition along the ghats of Varanasi, capturing a moment of profound stillness and meditative immersion.

Manikarnika Ghat Digital Photography, 2013, Varanasi, India

This work captures the sacred atmosphere of Manikarnika Ghat, one of the holiest riverbanks along the Ganges. It reflects centuries of spiritual practice and devotion, highlighting moments of ritual, contemplation, and daily life by the river.

Northern Landscape / Paysage septentrional Lac Tso Moriri, Nomadic Zone, Himalayan Plateau, Northern India — 2013

This photograph depicts a whitewashed chorten, which is a type of Buddhist stupa, beneath an expansive Himalayan sky at Tso Moriri, a remote lake region inhabited by nomadic communities. The work captures the interplay of monumental natural forms and sacred architecture, evoking a sense of spiritual expansion within a vast rug landscape.

Le Moment Présent/ The Present Moment Naxi Dongba minority, Yunnan Province, Southwest China – 2012

This photograph captures three men of the Naxi Dongba community in a moment of shared laughter and ease, their body language revealing the warmth and camaraderie of daily life. The interplay of natural light and the textured interior setting creates an atmosphere both intimate and universal, allowing the viewer to feel present within the scene. In its focus on authentic human connection, while offering a vivid glimpse into the living culture of Southwest China.

The next two artworks have been produced from a performance art for video entitled “There is a little bit of absurdity in everything (Oakland, California, August 15th 2005, filmed by Reed Rickert),” the video of which was later transformed in a visual programming language called MAX Jitter to create abstract shapes from the performance art.

National Jewel / Joyau National Drung minority, Yunnan Province, Southwest China — 2012

Located at the foothills of the Himalaya mountains on the border of Northern Myanmar and Northwestern Yunnan province in Southwestern China, the Drung Valley is one of the wildest and most remote valleys in China. This region has been classified by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve as well as a World Heritage Site, and is home to a rich biosphere, rare indigenous species of plants and animals. The Drung minority has a total population of approximately 6000 individuals. Drung women born before 1949 have their entire face tattooed. I was told by my host that this practice, which was banned by Mao Zedong in 1949, aimed to protect women from other tribes. There were 18 of these women still alive when I visited the mountain village in 2012. They are considered national treasures by the Chinese government. A road was built to access the valley in 1998, and until the building of a new highway in 2014, the valley was closed off for part of the year during the winter season. During my travels to the Drung valley in 2012, I was told by my host that about 50 foreigners a year had travelled to the valley since 2009.

Trikaya (intra-dimensional archetypal realm)

This digital composition reinterprets the Buddhist concept of Trikaya — the three bodies of the Buddha — through abstract, prismatic forms that explore perception, consciousness, and archetypal symbolism.

Abstraction Video still from Divine Molecular Theater — 2023

This image is a still from the video Divine Molecular Theater (2009), which itself originated from the performance artwork There Is a Little Bit of Absurdity in Everything (Oakland, California, 2005). The original performance video was digitally transformed using the visual programming language MAX Jitter, creating nuanced visual effects that reinterpret the DMT-induced altered states of consciousness explored in the work.

In 2023, this video still was printed and exhibited for the first time. Born from the transformation of performance into moving image, Abstraction explores the fluid architecture of consciousness and the porous boundaries between matter, art, and spirit. Abstract, prismatic forms evoke a shifting perceptual space where spiritual symbolism and psychedelic geometry intersect.

Angel Remix:Light, Video still from the video Divine Molecular Theater, 2010

This digital artwork explores the transformative nature of light as both a material and metaphysical presence. Emerging from the fusion of visual abstraction and spiritual inquiry, Angel Remix:Light evokes a state of transmutation — where energy, color, and form dissolve into radiance. The work reflects on illumination as a metaphor for consciousness, bridging the ephemeral qualities of digital media with the timeless search for transcendence.

This artwork is a short excerpt from the video Divine Molecular Theater (2009). It represents the UFO form —a recurring visual symbol of communication with inter-dimensional beings and the expanded states of consciousness explored throughout the work.

Performance Art, San Francisco, 2006

Sower of Vision, Performance Art, 2006 In this 2006 performance in San Francisco, I wear The Painting-Dress, cutting my hair and sewing it onto myself — a ritual in which the gesture and offering are alchemical, and the body becomes both canvas and medium. This work continues the exploration begun in There Is a Little Bit of Absurdity in Everything (2005, Oakland), weaving the embodiment of transformation.

Divine Molecular Theater (Video, 2009) emerges from the performance artwork There Is a Little Bit of Absurdity in Everything (2005). The original performance was digitally transformed using MAX Jitter, generating visionary imagery that evokes DMT-induced states of expanded consciousness. The video explores the fluidity of perception and consciousness, with recurring UFO-like forms symbolizing communication with interdimensional beings, blending ritual, gesture, and alchemical transformation into an immersive moving-image experience.

The Painting Dress in There is a little bit of absurdity in everything.

Performance Art, in collaboration with Reed Rickert, Jennifer Connolly, Angela Milash, Guillermo Galindo, Bluejay Silverback, Audrey Haller, John Rogers, Oakland, California — August 15, 2005

The Timelessness of the Present Moment Art Installation, Gallery Espace, Montreal — August 2023

Exhibition — Espace Gallery, Montreal, August 2023

Trikaya Video print on Hahnemühle Hemp paper. Exhibited at Galerie Espace, Montreal, August 2023.

DMT Self-Portrait —from the prayerformance Eclamus bitus credo uin ubsurdum

DMT Self-Portrait derives from a still of the performance art video. It was transformed using the visual programming language MAX Jitter and printed on Hahnemühle hemp paper in Montreal, 2023.

Eclamus bitus credo uin ubsurdum (“There is a little bit of absurdity in everything”) was a prayerformance in which the ten-year project The Painting-Dress was transfigured. Internationally acclaimed artist Guillermo Galindo contributed immersive sonic textures, weaving sound, image, and gesture into a unified experience.

This article, written by art critic André Seleanu, discusses my work based on my summer exhibition at Gallery Espace in Montreal, August 2023. French art historian Aude de Kerros, a specialist in the sociology of contemporary art, considers Seleanu’s work essential for understanding the conceptual foundations of contemporary art (The Hidden Art Finally Revealed, Eyrolles, Paris, 2023).

You can read the full critique online here:

https://andreseleanu.com/berangere-maia-natasha-parizeau/