McCord Stewart Museum 2023 : Hochelaga

Hochelaga - Evolving Montreal

by Joannie Lafrenière

Showcasing the neighbourhood’s wonderful people

March 31 - September 10, 2023

This exhibition represents the second part of the Evolving Montreal photographic commission. Joannie Lafrenière, a photographer and filmmaker, offers an intimate dive into the Hochelaga neighbourhood. The exhibition brings together different encounters, videos, photographs and poetry and is an invitation to explore the artist’s view of what constitutes the essence of Hochelaga today.

Located in the south-east of the city, Hochelaga is steeped in a working-class and Frenchspeaking past. Its population has played a major role in the city’s industrial development. Like other Montreal neighbourhoods, Hochelaga has rapidly transformed over the past few years. The vision of a popular Hochelaga is slowly fading away under the social and economic pressures of gentrification.

Lafrenière has a deep affection for the streets and alleys, but especially for the people of this neighbourhood where she has lived for 18 years. The close relationships she establishes with the subjects of her photographs and films are at the heart of the stories she tells. The exhibition introduces the public to individuals who have crossed the artist’s path and who to her personify the heart of Hochelaga.

Lafrenière states:

“Through this intimate portrait of my neighbourhood, I want to give a dignified voice to forgotten and marginalized people as well as to important individuals who have crossed my path during the last two decades spent in Hochelaga. My intention is to highlight their beauty and colour, without masking the harshness of the experience imprinted in their features, bodies and hearts, to highlight both what is left of this working-class neighbourhood and what is being transformed as it is gentrified.”

A poetic journey

Visitors will notice Benoit Bordeleau’s poetry on the walls of the exhibition. Composed for the exhibition or excerpts from his collection Orange Pekoe (2021), the poet’s verses and stanzas dot the gallery with reflections on life in the neighbourhood and tributes to the resilience of his community, in dialogue with the images encountered in the exhibition.

Hochelaga, an evolving neighbourhood

Launched by the McCord Stewart Museum in 2019, the Evolving Montreal photographic commission program supports documentary projects that testify to the transformations of Montreal neighbourhoods through unique points of view. “The idea behind Evolving Montreal was born from the conviction that the Museum should play a more active role, both in supporting the local photographic community and in building its own photography collection. The remarkable creativity and documentary value of the projects produced so far in the series are eloquent proof that encouraging contemporary photographers to capture the continuous transformation of the city is a fruitful undertaking,” explains Zoë Tousignant, Curator, Photography.

Click on Images to enlarge them

All photos @ Nadia Slejskova

For more information about current exhibitions and activities, visit the McCord Museum website.