News
September 6, 2023
Mother Memory Cellophane – Séamus Gallagher
Press Release
A phantasmic theatre haunted by past visions of the future
Montreal, September 6, 2023 – From September 8, 2023, to February 4, 2024, for the 18th MOMENTA Biennale de l’image, the McCord Stewart Museum presents Mother Memory Cellophane, an exhibition by multimedia artist Séamus Gallagher. Imagined as a phantasmic theatre that includes a video projection and a series of five lenticular photographs, this installation was inspired by an event that took place at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, titled “World of Tomorrow.” To mark the occasion, the DuPont company presented Miss Chemistry, a model meant to personify Chemistry and serve as a living advertisement for the world premiere of nylon stockings. Personifying this allegory, which symbolizes both stereotypical femininity and the period’s synthetic material culture, Séamus Gallagher invites us to reflect on this plastic embodiment of the woman of the future and the omnipresence of synthetic materials in our contemporary lives.
“As microplastics become increasingly prominent in our body, the borders of ourselves and these materials get a bit looser, similar to how Miss Chemistry was viewed as the plastic woman of the future. We’re all a bit of Miss Chemistry now, so I wanted to use these ideas as a foundation for the show. In performing as this ghost of Miss Chemistry for the exhibition, I wanted to think about the ways in which we’re all haunted by these old futures of the past, and what responsibilities we might have to these ghosts,” explains Séamus Gallagher.
Mother Memory Cellophane
The year after the 1939 World’s Fair, a survey ranked Mother, Memory and Cellophane as the most beautiful words in the English language. In their work, Séamus Gallagher appropriates these words to create a mashup of stereotypical femininity and synthetic material culture in a drag reincarnation of Miss Chemistry—or, more specifically, her ghost.
“I’ve been really preoccupied the past few years with these ideas of hauntology, and ghosts, and how plastics operate as a form of haunting. This exhibition has given me a chance to try to connect all these moving parts within the framework of the 1939 New York World’s Fair and the material of nylon. I hope the public can sit with it for a while and see the threads between these dots. It was really important to me to incorporate lenticular printing throughout this exhibition. It’s a style of printing where the image changes depending on the angle of which it is viewed. I wanted this technical process to also reflect the themes of haunting, and this dichotomy of what is visible versus what is present,” says Séamus Gallagher.
Séamus Gallagher’s work explores the transformation of identities through the interweaving of physical, virtual and online worlds. Inspired by drag culture and the aesthetics of video games, Gallagher designs 3D models and materializes them in paper. The artist creates costumes and sets, as extravagant as they are precarious, and translates them into paper templates, in which they immerse themselves and their alter ego, Séamus, for the duration of a photo or film shoot. Masquerade here is a slippery, queer place where imperfect metamorphoses take place—imitations full of limitations, bugs and confusions, sometimes doomed to failure.
“The McCord Stewart Museum continues its 10-year partnership with MOMENTA Biennale de l’image by making its spaces available to talented emerging artists. Invoking an avatar from the past to remind us how the advent of nylon was celebrated almost 100 years ago, Séamus Gallagher urges us to reflect on the insidious, even deadly, omnipresence of microplastics in living organisms. They offer a singular vision of ecology that resonates not only with our institution’s strategic objectives, but also with the concerns of the general public,” says Anne Eschapasse, President and CEO of the McCord Stewart Museum.
Biography of Séamus Gallagher
Séamus Gallagher is a lens-based artist currently living in Kjipuktuk/Halifax, Nova Scotia. Infusing queer aesthetics with self-portraiture, video game engines, and set construction, Séamus explores the limits of representation, and failure as a form of liberation. Gallagher’s work has been shown at the National Gallery of Canada, the Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, the Portrait Gallery of Canada, and the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, among others.
They are a recipient of the Scotiabank 2022 New Generation Photography Award, the 2022 Nova Scotia Emerging Artist Recognition Award, and the 2019 BMO 1st Art Award. They are a finalist for the 2023 Sobey Arts Award.
Credits and curatorial team
Exhibition presented as part of MOMENTA Biennale de l’image and produced in partnership with the McCord Stewart Museum.
Artist: Séamus Gallagher
Curator: Ji-Yoon Han, guest curator, MOMENTA Biennale de l’image
Séamus Gallagher thanks the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec for its financial support.
Download documents
Press Release PDF
Press Release WORD
Press images
Object photographs
Exhibition views
Portraits of Séamus Gallagher
Activities related to the exhibition
Talk animated by Ji-Yoon Han – MOMENTA Biennale de l’image
Saturday, September 9, 2023, 1 to 4 p.m. – Free – At the Museum
MOMENTA Biennale de l’image and the McCord Stewart Museum invite the public to a conversation moderated by Ji-Yoon Han, curator of the 18th biennale, with the participation of artists Chris Curreri, Kristina Norman, Bianca Baldi, Jeannette Ehlers, Émilie Pitoiset, Naomi Rincón Gallardo and Carey Young.
The activity will take place in French and English. Space limited, no reservation. Sign up on the day of the event at the Museum Admissions Desk.
Beyond the Mask – Workshop (MOMENTA Creative)
Sunday, September 24, 2023, 11 a.m. (in French) and 2 p.m. (in English) – Free – At the Museum
This workshop, presented in collaboration with MOMENTA Biennale de l’image, invites participants to give free rein to their creativity by creating masks that bring out the different facets of their personality and blur the boundaries of identity. Inspired by the work of Séamus Gallagher and guided by artist and educator Maria Ezcurra, this workshop will give you the chance to express themself freely and create an alter ego, using a variety of materials. A photo shoot will also allow you to embody your character.
A guided tour of Mother Memory Cellophane will be available at the start of the workshop.
Space limited, no reservation. Registration on the day of the event at the Museum Admissions Desk.
MOMENTA Creative
The Biennale includes the MOMENTA Creative program, a series of educational activities, creative workshops and guided tours. Each of these activities is free of charge and tailored to the Biennale’s theme for groups, families and individuals. Designed to be both inclusive and representative, our activities reflect our desire to innovate in the field of cultural mediation.
Conversation with artist Séamus Gallagher
Wednesday, November 22, 2023, 12 p.m. – Free – Virtual
Drawing on their research in the Museum’s archives, Séamus Gallagher will discuss the creative process behind their installation Mother Memory Cellophane. They will discuss how this latest creation fits into their larger body of work. The talk will be moderated by Morris Fox, whose artistic practice overlaps with Gallagher’s on several levels: queer aesthetics, identity, gender performativity and hauntology, to name but a few.
Activity in English. The discussion will be held on Zoom and livestreamed on the Museum’s Facebook page.
MOMENTA Biennale de l’image
About
MOMENTA Biennale de l’image is a major Montreal event dedicated to contemporary art. For more than 30 years, MOMENTA has been an international rendezvous in the city’s museums, galleries, and artist-run centres. Its activities include exhibitions, public events and educational workshops that introduce visitors to local and international artists whose work stimulates curiosity and reflection.
MOMENTA Podcast
For MOMENTA’s very first podcast, Séamus Gallagher will take part in a conversation about their work with artist and podcast host Jamie Ross. The episode will be published online during the Biennale on the MOMENTA website and on several podcast platforms.
The McCord Stewart Museum
About
A fixture in the heart of the city for over 100 years, the McCord Stewart Museum sheds light on life in Montreal, both past and present. It bears witness to the history, vitality, creativity and diversity of the communities that make up the city. In keeping with its commitment to decolonization and sustainable development, it creates exhibitions and educational, cultural and community-engagement activities that look at social history and contemporary issues through a critical and inclusive lens. The Museum’s Archives, Documentary Art, Dress, Fashion and Textiles, Indigenous Cultures, Material Culture and Photography collections, containing 2.5 million images, objects, documents and works of art, position it as the custodian of a remarkable historical heritage and one of North America’s leading museums.
Opening hours and admission fees
Opening hours
Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. | Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. | Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Holiday hours:
Thanksgiving – Monday, October 9: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Christmas – Monday, December 25: closed
Boxing Day – Tuesday, December 26: noon to 6 p.m.
New Year’s Day – Monday, January 1: closed
The day after New Year’s – Monday, January 2: noon to 6 p.m.
Fees
Adults: $20 | Seniors: $19 | Students (13 to 30): $15 | Indigenous persons: free | Family package: $50 (two adults and two teenagers) | 17 and under: free
Wednesday evening: free (Mother Memory Cellophane exhibition and permanent exhibition) or $10 (2nd floor exhibition).
First Sunday of the month: free for Quebec residents.
The McCord Stewart Museum would like to thank BMO Financial Group for the free Wednesday evenings, the Fondation J.A. DeSève for free admission for children 12 and under, and the Rossy Foundation for free admission for teens ages 13 to 17.
To create the best possible experience for everyone, it is recommended to reserve tickets online for the Museum and activities, whether paid or not. Go to the Tickets page on the Museum’s website.