Montreal Photography, the City’s Gastronomy, and African Fashion

The McCord Stewart Museum unveils its captivating 2025 exhibitions

Montreal, January 9, 2025. – The coming year at the McCord Stewart Museum will be filled with exciting programming that reflects the city’s diversity. In winter and spring 2025, discover the spirit of Montreal, its neighbourhoods’ transformation and its communities’ evolution as captured by street photographers from the 19^th century to today. In February, Andrew Jackson will resume the Evolving Montreal series of photographic commissions by exploring the dualities associated with the concept of “Black space” through an incursion into the southwestern neighbourhood of Little Burgundy. Pounding the Pavement. Montreal Street Photography opens in April and will present the work of 30 photographers from various backgrounds who have chronicled the city’s architectural evolution, social struggles and historic milestones since the 19^th century.

In fall 2025, fashion and food will take centre stage. The Museum will host the only Canadian presentation of Africa Fashion, circulated by London’s prestigious Victoria & Albert Museum, in September 2025. The exhibition explores the rise, emancipation, vitality and impact of African fashion, from the 1950s to the present day. Another programming highlight is an exhibition dedicated to Montreal’s restaurant scene, opening in November 2025. From the 1960s onward, it will explore how part of the city’s identity was forged around the extraordinary wealth and cultural diversity of its culinary landscape.

An exciting lineup of activities

The winter-spring season of cultural and community activities will kick off in January:

• Round table on commercialization of Inuit art (January 15)
• The Photobook Club: Reinventing Representations of Identity (January 29)
• Symposium organized for the exhibition Costume Balls: Dressing Up History, 1870-1927 (March 20 & 21)
  This event will bring together a range of perspectives on the unparalleled material and visual heritage presented in the exhibition.
• The theme of the first Join Me at the Museum evening on February 13 is Extravagance! The Costume Ball.
• The Museum will be marking Black History Month (February), International Women’s Day (March 12) and National Indigenous History Month (June) with a series of thought-provoking and discussion-based activities.
• Lots of fun and creative activities will be on offer during March break.
• New this year, there will be winter programming in Museum Alley: snowball fights, snowman-making contests and storytelling.

Access to the Museum is free all year round for children under 17 and for members of Indigenous communities. Visitors who book online enjoy a $2 discount.

Upcoming exhibitions

• Little Burgundy – Evolving Montreal by Andrew Jackson
  February 21 to September 2, 2025
• Pounding the Pavement. Montreal Street Photography
  April 18 to October 19, 2025
• Africa Fashion
  September 26, 2025, to February 1, 2026
• Exhibition on Montreal restaurants
  November 28, 2025, to September 7, 2026

Exhibitions to (re)visit

• To All the Unnamed Women by Michaëlle Sergile
  Last chance – Until January 26
• Manasie Akpaliapik. Inuit Universe
  Until March 9
  Presenting partners: Canadian North and Travel Nunavut
• Costume Balls: Dressing Up History, 1870-1927
  Until August 17
  Presented by La Presse and in collaboration with LaSalle College Montréal, a member of LCI Education.
• Indigenous Voices of Today: Knowledge, Trauma, Resilience
  Permanent exhibition
  Presented by CBC/Radio-Canada

Cultural and community activities

Exhibition activities

• Northern Artists, Southern Markets: Commercializing Inuit Art for the Artists – January 15 – 6 to 7 p.m. – At the Museum – Free
• The Photobook Club – Montreal: Reinventing Representations of Identity – January 29 – 6 to 8 p.m. – At the Museum – Free
• Costume Balls: The Symposium – March 20 and 21 – 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. – At the Museum (paid activities) and online (free)

Activities associated with the permanent exhibition Indigenous Voices of Today: Knowledge, Trauma, Resilience

• Round table: Recentering Indigenous Sexual Sovereignty (International Women’s Day) – March 12, 2025 – 6 to 8 p.m. – Free – At the Museum
• Screening of the documentary Télesh Métatash, Queen of the Woods by Nikol Brunet and discussion – April 2, 2025 – 6 to 8 p.m. – Free – At the Museum
• Screening of the documentary Wilfred Buck by Lisa Jackson (Earth Day) – April 23, 2025 – 6 to 7:15 p.m. – Free – At the Museum

City Talks

• Converting Heritage Interiors – January 29, 2025 – 6 to 8 p.m. – Online – Free
• Neighbourhoods and Cultural Communities: Branding and Beyond – March 26, 2025 – 6 to 8 p.m. – Online – Free

Festive events

• The magic of winter in Museum Alley! – Tales by Saulo Olmedo Evans – February 8, 2025 – 1 to 4 p.m. – Museum Alley – Free
• Snowball fights and snowman gallery – January and February 2025 (weather permitting) – An invitation will be posted on the Museum’s social media accounts on the day of the event.
• Join Me at the Museum – Extravagance! The Costume Ball – Date to be confirmed – Paid activity – At the Museum
• Join me at the Museum – Your Lived Space – Pounding the Pavement. Montreal Street Photography – June 12, 2025 – 5 to 10 p.m. – Paid activity – At the Museum

Black History Month

• Sororité Sacrée: A conversation on the Festival Afropolitain Nomade residency project – February 8, 2025 – Free
• Festival Afropolitain (February 15-16)

Workshops for everyone at the Museum

• Wednesday evening workshop – The Arctic Story Factory – January 8 to March 5, 2025 – 6 to 8:30 p.m.
• Saturday Workshop – Welcome to the Studio: The I Spy Game – January 11 to April 26, 2025 – 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Sunday Workshop – Textures of an Imagined Journey – January 12 to March 9, 2025 – 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Ongoing –Natu-natshishkueu: The Adventure of Connection
  Presented by Hydro-Québec

Inuit Universe contest

© Michelle Valberg

Discover the Inuit universe of Manasie Akpaliapik during an exceptional one-week trip to meet Iqaluit and Kinngait communities. A unique experience in the Far North for families and friends, valued up to $35,000, offered by Canadian North and Travel Nunavut. You have until March 9, 2025 to enter the contest.

Presented by Canadian North and Travel Nunavut