Grounded (Enracinée)

7 MINUTES

After losing her legs, Marie-Hélène finds freedom in scars and in dance

When she first started using prosthetic legs at age 11, Marie-Hélène Bellavance wanted to hide them. Today, as an adult, she’s not only ‘happy without feet’, but her difference has inspired her many successes in the Canadian contemporary art and dance scenes. By pushing through self-criticism and finding strength in vulnerability, she’s been moved to create art that, in its intimacy, touches ‘the intimacy of others’. And for Bellavance, this embrace of her ‘scars’ isn’t so much an approach to art as it is a philosophy of life, extending to her role as a mother to two young daughters.

The French Canadian director Annie Leclair reflects Bellavance’s warm spirit in her film Grounded (Enracinée) (2020). The short documentary captures Bellavance as she dances, creates and exhibits her mixed-media artworks, and details her evolution as a person and as an artist. Through her subject, Leclair’s charming short makes a heartening case for finding value and freedom in what sets us apart.

Director: Annie Leclair

Explore more

A woman drawing on an easel in a courtyard with greenery and a modern glass building in the background.

To become more attuned to the world around you, try sketching outdoors

Video by The Museum of Modern Art

Illustration of a scoreboard at Barclays Center showing a man with raised arms, surrounded by an arena.

A dancing NBA superfan on the joy of spaces that let us go wild and get weird

Directed by Mickey Duzyj

Abstract drawing of a face with vibrant colours, featuring red cheeks and a patterned necklace on an orange background.
Psyche Exclusive

Born of memory and mystery – the otherworldly works of a self-taught, unhoused artist

Directed by Tal Amiran

Illustration of a simple cartoon figure with a bob haircut wearing a green crop top and red skirt on a light background.

Growing pains, bras, size, sex – a group of women get candid about all things boobs

A film by Subarna Dash and Vidushi Gupta

Close-up photo of an elderly man with a beard wearing a black cap, lying in a hospital bed, looking content.

After four decades in prison, Big D contemplates the brave new world that awaits him

Directed by Laura Tejero Núñez

An Aboriginal painter depicts scenes from her youth in this beautiful short

A film by Grace Kemarre Robinya and Jonathan Daw

Surreal photo of a person wearing glasses and a hat with their face distorted, leaning towards a camera in a hallway.

This sculptor finds deep weirdness – not divinity – in the human form

Directed by Ben Berman

Paper collage of a man and a woman lying on the floor petting a grey rabbit and a white cat with a small table in the background.

After a life-altering diagnosis, Case crafts a loving message to his future self

A film by Case Jernigan