Geneviève Castrée

Castrée and Elverum, her husband of 12 years, playing together in 2006

Geneviève Gosselin was born in Loretteville, Quebec,[1] and later lived in the Pacific Northwestern United States.[3] She grew up reading Tintin comics from an early age, so much so that she eventually entered, studied for, and won a Tintin competition. She was drawing comics influenced by artists she loved from an early age; these include: Hergé, Renée French, Chester Brown, Julie Doucet, and Argentinian artist Quino.[5]

Gosselin began her cartooning career in her teens, publishing minicomics and adopting the name Geneviève Castrée. Montreal publisher L'Oie de Cravan published her first book Lait Frappé in 2000,[6] followed by Die Fabrik in 2000[7] and Roulatheque Roulatheque Nicolore in 2001, but it was Pamplemoussi in 2004[5] that launched her into the international spotlight in both the comic and music world . Pamplemoussi included an LP of music to accompany Castrée's drawings and was her first musical release.[8] The release marked her first major movement to integrate her music and visual art into one cohesive practice.

After the release of Pamplemoussi, Castrée went on to release music under the names Woelv (2004–2007) and Ô PAON (2007–2016), all with her own artwork, as well as collaborations with Karl Blau, Lori Goldston and Aidan Baker. Castrée was also close friends with poet Joanne Kyger. [9]

In 2013 Drawn and Quarterly released Susceptible, a memoir that chronicled Castrée's childhood growing up in Quebec and eventual movement to British Columbia. In November 2015 L'Oie de Cravan published Maman Sauvage a book of poems in French, under the name Geneviève Elverum. In October 2016 she was posthumously included in The Best American Comics 2016, edited by Roz Chast.

She was married to musician Phil Elverum, who has released music as The Microphones and Mount Eerie.[10] They met in 2003 and married in 2004. They originally intended to move to Canada but after searching for residency decided to remain in the United States.[11]

She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2015, shortly after the birth of her and Elverum's only child.[12] In June 2016, a GoFundMe account was set up by Elverum to assist with their finances.[12] She died on July 9, 2016.[10] Her husband soon posted an update: "She died at home with me and her parents holding her, hopefully having reached some last minute peace".[13] The Mount Eerie albums, A Crow Looked at Me, Now Only and Lost Wisdom pt. 2 chronicle her life and mourn her death.

• Orange Sanguine (drawings and dolls), The Crying Room, Vancouver, BC, 2002.[14]
• Deviate (with Allison Cole), Junc Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 2006.[15]
• Masques, Book Gallery Popotame, Tokyo, 2007.[16]
• Geneviève Castrée : Drawings, Adam Baumgold Gallery, New York, NY, 2008.[17]
• Débarrassée/Décomplexée, Presspop Gallery/Book Gallery Popotame, Tokyo, 2010.[18]
• Hivers, Book Gallery Popotame, Tokyo, 2013.[19]
• Susceptible , Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery, Seattle, WA, 2013.[20]
• Forest of Suicides (group show), Galeria de Muerte, Tokyo, 2013.[21]
• Drawn & Quarterly 25th (group show), Galerie Martel, Paris, 2016.[22]
• A Bubble, Editions de la Pasteque, Montreal, QC , 2018.[23]
• This is Serious (group show), Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, ON, 2019.[24]

• P.W. Elverum & Sun (current official store for Geneviève's books and music)
• Ô PAON official website (no longer updated)
• Ô PAON at Bandcamp
• Geneviève Castrée at Drawn & Quarterly
• Naomi Fry, The Geneviève Castrée Interview, The Comics Journal, April 17, 2013
• Jasmine Alberton, Beyond A Crow: Looking at the Life and Works of Geneviève Castrée, KEXP.org, March 28, 2019