The team behind L’Etat C’est Nous has 20+ years of experience working with municipalities, BIAs, and commercial and private sectors, creating and facilitating artworks that enhance public and private spaces. 

WHO WE ARE

Pascal Paquette, the lead artist, is an Ottawa-born visual artist working in painting, drawing and site-specific installation. While he frequently produces work for urban settings, his visual vocabulary harnesses the energy of nature to create visually rich and memorable environments. His unique and colour dominant compositions, always created with regard to community character, have aesthetically enhanced city spaces in Canada and internationally.

Paquette’s work has been commissioned, published and exhibited notably at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCA), Canadian Heritage as well as Art Basel (Switzerland), Art Basel Miami, FIAC (Paris, France), Art Chicago (USA), Art Cologne (Köln, Germany) and Scope (London, UK).

Cindy Blažević, a Croatian-Canadian visual artist and writer, is the artistic director of the team. She brings a community-minded approach, applying her years of project creation and public collaboration to the process of creating artwork that fits the character and needs of a community. Her projects have been exhibited and awarded internationally., and have received the support of the Ontario Arts Council, British Arts Council, European Cultural Fund, Open Society Foundation and Toronto Arts Council. She has previously served on the Exhibition Committee for Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography, and she photographs for architecture firms worldwide.

Our producer, Lise Hosein, is a Toronto-based producer, curator and arts administrator working across public art, media and contemporary culture. Lise brings a curatorial and community-focused approach to public art projects, helping to connect artists, clients and neighbourhoods through thoughtful urban interventions. A queer and racialized creative leader, she has a background in visual art, documentary production, live events, public programming and artist engagement. Lise previously served as President of the Board of Mercer Union, a centre for contemporary art, and has worked for many years as a senior producer for the CBC. Lise is currently on medical leave.