Hochelaga — Evolving Montreal by Joannie Lafrenière

Showcasing the neighbourhood’s wonderful people

Montreal, March 28, 2023. — From March 31 to September 10, 2023, the McCord Stewart Museum will present the exhibition Hochelaga — Evolving Montreal by Joannie Lafrenière. For this second part of the Evolving Montreal photographic commission, the photographer and filmmaker offers an intimate dive into the Hochelaga neighbourhood. This non-linear 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.

Encounters in the heart of Hochelaga

Joannie 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, in her opinion, personify the heart of Hochelag’.

“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,” explains Joannie Lafrenière.

In spaces evoking their place of living, we meet characters who are as colourful as they are endearing: Renaud, the bike repairman, whose garage is a meeting place for neighbourhood residents looking for human contact; Michel the barber, who knows how to cut hair as well as share in the pitfalls and joys of his loyal clientele; the caring Diane, former waitress at La Québecoise, now replaced by a pawnshop, who remembered every patron’s favourite dish; Pierre-André, the florist who accompanied locals at every milestone, through carefully crafted floral arrangements, for five decades until the closure of his store in 2021; Claude, a veteran, met while temporarily residing in a makeshift container near the railway and with whom she shared a decade of moving and overwhelming confidences; not to mention Mrs. Grandchamp, contacted during the pandemic as part of an outreach program set up by a local organization to break the isolation of elderly people.

Object photographs

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.

Located in the south-east of the city, Hochelaga is steeped in a working-class and French-speaking past, and 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.

One of the exhibition spaces is dedicated to a photographic series by Yvon Lebeau and Lise Robichaud made in the late 1970s. Next to Joannie Lafrenière’s works, these photographs reveal the changes that have taken place in the neighbourhood over the past 50 years, but also show that residents have been able, despite the challenges, to preserve the soul of the neighbourhood.

With Hochelaga — Evolving Montreal, Joannie Lafrenière immerses visitors in spaces evoking their usual surroundings with tenderness and humanity, reflecting her affection for the beautiful people who make up the social landscape of her adopted neighbourhood. “A big wish that I have in connection with this exhibition and my artistic practice is that the people represented in the exhibition feel seen, recognize themselves and feel represented with honesty, dignity and respect. I’m looking forward to being able to encourage an encounter between people from various backgrounds, origins and horizons. I also see this dive into my tight-knit community as a unique opportunity to make a wide audience aware of the neighbourhood’s different social realities, which is entirely consistent with my intention of telling the stories of people who touch me while forging human connections and participating, at my level, in making art more accessible to a greater number of people. Through this exhibition, I am honouring my desire to take part in the life of my neighbourhood by positioning myself as a bridge between the different communities to which I feel I belong,” said Joannie Lafrenière.

“The McCord Stewart Museum is very pleased to be able to present the result of the photographic commission awarded to Joannie Lafrenière. The documentary value of a project like Joannie’s is invaluable for a museum that aims to document Montreal’s social history, but also to celebrate the lives of its people and communities, past and present. The accelerated transformations that the neighbourhood is undergoing for better and for worse make this exercise even more relevant when it comes to preserving a record of an era,” said Pascale Grignon, Senior Director, Marketing, Culture and Inclusion.

Exhibition views

Biography of Joannie Lafrenière

Joannie Lafrenière holds degrees in journalism and photography. She is interested in all the captivating people who cross her path. Combining her anthropological curiosity with her love for humour, human beings and pop culture, she approaches documentary making as the art of encounter, and her camera as the tool for real connection.

Her previous films, The woman who saw the bear, Snowbirds, and King Lajoie, have been shown on television and in theatres around the world. She feels privileged to have recently completed Gabor, a documentary feature film about the oh-so-inspiring individual that is Gabor Szilasi.

Joannie lives, works and plays in Montreal and wherever life takes her.

Credits and curatorial team

An exhibition created by the McCord Stewart Museum.

Artist (photographs, multimedia and texts): Joannie Lafrenière
Project manager: François Vallée, McCord Stewart Museum
Scenography: Pierre-Étienne Locas
Literary texts: Benoit Bordeleau
Curator: Zoë Tousignant, Curator, Photography, McCord Stewart Museum
Graphic design: Philippe Legris

Joannie Lafrenière would like to thank the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec for supporting this project.

Hochelaga – Evolving Montreal, the book

The photography book Hochelaga – Evolving Montreal features 45 of the photos by Joannie Lafrenière presented in the exhibition. With writing by Joannie, poetry by Benoît Bordeleau and quotes from the photographed subjects, this colourful work invites readers to discover the streets, alleys and buildings that make up the urban landscape of Hochelaga, and to meet the people who make up its heart and soul. Intended as an extension of the exhibition, this book allows visitors to continue their multisensory encounter with the Hochelaga neighbourhood.

Sold at the Museum Boutique and at the bookstore Le Renard perché at the price of $18.
Graphic design by Justin Mignot.

Download the documents

Press release (PDF)
Press release (WORD)

Press images

Object photographs
Exhibition views