A woman lives alone in a small house situated in a tidy yard surrounded by a seemingly impenetrable wall.
She spends her days reading, swimming, and watching TV. She eats regular meals and keeps her house clean. But the simplicity is deceiving, because the woman has no idea how she came to live in her house, and - most importantly - what exists beyond the wall. Her only source of information is a talking TV monitor in her living room called Shiatsung. The entity controlling the monitor is committed to keeping the woman hydrated and educated, but it refuses to answer any of her existential questions and keeps her under constant surveillance.
Lonely and frustrated, the woman begins to search for answers of her own. The Shiatsung Project explores surveillance culture and authoritarian control, and how they disrupt our very human need for connection, intimacy, and a meaningful life.

Brigitte Archambault's profile page

ALESHIA JENSEN is a French-to-English literary translator and former bookseller living in Tio'tia:ke/Montréal. Her translations include Explosions by Mathieu Poulin, a finalist for the 2018 Governor General's Literary Award for Translation; Prague by Maude Veilleux, co-translated with Aimee Wall; as well as numerous graphic novels, including work by Julie Delporte, Catherine Ocelot, Mirion Malle, and Pascal Girard.

Aleshia Jensen's profile page

"An extremely intriguing look at what isn't so far from our own realities in surveillance states. We have unnamed people watching over our every move too, and what we think of as freedom of choice is often a carefully manufactured facade."
- Broken Frontier
Archambault's style recalls a less crowded Chris Ware landscape, dominated by crisp architectural lines and solid colors that effectively communicate the grim, repetitive sterility of its world. It's an eerie parable of authoritarianism, technological dependence, and the need for privacy and intimacy in the digital age. This strong debut marks Archambault as a creator to watch. - Publisher's Weekly