McCord 2022: INCIPIT – COVID-19

 
Photographs by Michel Huneault:

A Look Back at the First Months of the Pandemic in Montreal

September 16, 2022 - January 22, 2023

The Montreal's McCord Stewart Museum is presenting its new exhibition of photographs by Michel Huneaul INCIPIT – COVID-19 that displays 30 works and 3 projections of photos and videos, comprising over 150 images. The exhibition documents the daily reality of the first months of the pandemic as experienced by Montrealers, healthcare workers, and patients suffering from the virus. It provides a chance to the public to reflect back on the series of events that put the world on pause.

In order to reduce the spread of the virus, a general lockdown of businesses and schools was ordered by the Quebec government in the spring of 2020 since Montreal was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Realizing the historic nature of this situation, the McCord Stewart Museum gave photographer Michel Huneault carte blanche to document this unprecedented upheaval. From April to August 2020, he attempted to comprehend and capture images of the scourge that was spreading across the planet and still continues to affect daily life.

To document the pandemic measures, the photographer investigated the city scenes in the midst of various public measures. He gathered personal statements from a number of individuals and also secured and exceptional access to three healthcare institutions enabled him to directly document the work of healthcare workers and the impact of the virus on patients and their families.

Two photos below show the photographer Michel Huneault during the exhibition's press visit.

Click on images to enlarge them.

All Photos @ Nadia Slejskova

Activity related to the exhibition

Documented in real time – Round table

Wednesday, September 21, 6 to 7 p.m. – At the Museum

For the exhibition INCIPIT – COVID-19, the Museum is organizing a round table discussion around Michel Huneault’s photography project, which provides an early record of this historic moment by capturing the beginnings of the COVID-19 crisis. The event will examine the necessity of archiving the present and explore the roles of different stakeholders—artists, journalists, institutions, civil society—in creating a network that engages in the values of accessibility and visibility.

 Speakers:

• Michel Huneault, photographer

• Zoë Tousignant, curator, Photography, McCord Stewart Museum

• Pierre-Paul Milette, administrator who has worked in management positions within Quebec’s

health and social services network The discussion will be moderated by Vincent Lavoie, professor in the Art History Department at UQAM.

Free activity, in French. Space is limited, reservation required on the Museum website.

Framing Everyday Life: Stories of Confinement

Alongside the photographic mission entrusted to Michel Huneault, in April 2020 the Museum launched a collaborative public project, Framing Everyday Life: Stories of Confinement. This project invited the public to express, through photography, how the pandemic and confinement influenced their relationship with the outside world and each other. After more than 2 years, over 4,000 photographs with the hashtags #FramingEverydayLife and #Cadrerlequotidien have been shared on social media. The project’s success provides a portrait of the diverse realities experienced by Quebecers and the way they evolved. The tagged images can be viewed on the project’s webpage on the McCord Stewart Museum’s website.