Not the best day for a walk.
Posted at 12:00 p.m
It’s 8 a.m., it’s raining and freezing. Nevertheless, Joannie Lafrenière welcomes me with a beaming smile and a playful look.
“Would you like to have lunch at the New Casa de la Pizza?
– Put in, I love this place! »
A few days before the opening of her HOCHELAGA exhibition at the McCord Stewart Museum, I asked the photographer and director to offer me a tour of the neighborhood where she has lived for the past 18 years. I have to say I know it pretty well, having lived there for a good decade… But unlike Joannie, I haven’t witnessed the recent gentrification.
Before breaking the crust, she suggests that I introduce myself to Michel Contant, one of the men who has a nice spot in her exhibition. Gladly !
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Michel owns a hair salon in Hochelaga.
I had never noticed the hairdressing salon on Rue La Fontaine. Joannie, she discovered it while taking an early morning walk. Seeing that the newspaper lying near the door of this shop was surprisingly open at dawn, she decided to go inside to read her horoscope.
Michael was also a Capricorn. A beautiful relationship had just been born.
The 75-year-old has been running his salon from 5.30 a.m. for 57 years. His clientele is made up of night workers, firefighters, taxi drivers and believers from across the province.
For Joannie Lafrenière, capturing this place and its wildlife means preserving traces of a memory doomed to be lost.
“I’m interested in documenting things that end quietly. Michel won’t be able to cut hair forever and he will not only leave with his scissors but also with an incredible social legacy… Or with the memories of all the customers who have come to stop by his shop. »
The artist is linked to the municipality of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, that is undeniable. When she moved to the area at the age of 21, she was immediately fascinated by the social fabric that encourages caring for others. “You share what little you have with your neighbors,” she sums up.
As we let Michel Contant go about his business, Joannie confides that when she sees a fence separating a huge real estate project under construction from an HLM, she worries about the future of the area.
The idea is not to say no to gentrification, but to ensure a healthy coexistence… Not to destroy the soul of the neighborhood.
Joannie Lafrenière, photographer and filmmaker
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Rose-Aimée and Joannie Lafrenière pass Jacques-Blanchet Park.
Joannie stops to hand over some books she borrowed from the library. I notice the renovations being done to the place… The new building will be as huge as it is bright. “This is a beautiful mutation! »
“There are many beautiful changes,” the artist replies immediately. Nothing is so binary! As a local resident, the transfer is a lot of little sadness… But on the less somber side, there are new shops that add a stone to the building, like Le Renard Perché bookshop. Several people want to get in touch with the neighborhood and actually register there. »
In addition, she leaves it to the viewers of the HOCHELAGA exhibition, which has been on view since yesterday, March 31st, to get an idea of the changes that are taking place in the area. She is not there to tell them what to think, but to draw them into their world, through photographs as well as installations, videos and poetry.
Bad news: The new Casa de la Pizza doesn’t open until 9am. It seems to me that in my time we could have eaten there earlier… No big deal, we head back to the Ontario Boardwalk to warm up at the Atomic Café, another neighborhood institution.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Joannie Lafrenière, at the Atomic Cafe
Finally sheltered from the rain, Joannie Lafrenière hands me the proof of the book from her exhibition. It contains the fruits of a documentary work spanned over three years thanks to the McCord Stewart Museum and its Changing Montreal initiative.
The book begins with a verse by Benoit Bordeleau: “How many steps are there to go in this neighborhood where porcelain is rare and sleep is fragile?” »
Nice.
HOCHELAGA exhibition by Joannie Lafrenière
PHOTO JOANNIE LAFRENIÈRE SUPPLIED BY MCCORD STEWART MUSEUM
Photograph from the HOCHELAGA exhibition
PHOTO JOANNIE LAFRENIÈRE SUPPLIED BY MCCORD STEWART MUSEUM
Photograph from the HOCHELAGA exhibition
PHOTO JOANNIE LAFRENIÈRE SUPPLIED BY MCCORD STEWART MUSEUM
Photograph from the HOCHELAGA exhibition
PHOTO JOANNIE LAFRENIÈRE SUPPLIED BY MCCORD STEWART MUSEUM
Photograph from the HOCHELAGA exhibition
PHOTO JOANNIE LAFRENIÈRE SUPPLIED BY MCCORD STEWART MUSEUM
Photograph from the HOCHELAGA exhibition
PHOTO JOANNIE LAFRENIÈRE SUPPLIED BY MCCORD STEWART MUSEUM
Photograph from the HOCHELAGA exhibition
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Portraits of touching characters follow, such as Michel Contant, but also Renaud, a bicycle mechanic who opened his garage door to people who wanted to “fill their loneliness,” as Joannie puts it. Unfortunately he recently moved.
There are also photos of La Québécoise, a flagship neighborhood restaurant that has had to close its doors. Just like Fleuriste Maisonneuve…
“Why did you decide to photograph something that would soon be gone? »
Joannie Lafrenière answers me tit for tat: “If not, who will? She adds that she can see beauty in rough or rough.
In my opinion, his most touching portraits are those of Claude, a former soldier who lived in a container near the railway. Under the photographer’s gaze, the man becomes great. Really. To learn more about his (harrowing) career, you have to see the exhibition. Telling you more here would do the man no credit. Joannie has thought of everything to give him the most beautiful tribute.
Also, who is this exhibition for?
“I don’t know if Michel has ever been to the museum,” reflects Joannie Lafrenière, but I want people from the neighborhood to come and recognize themselves. Let them see that it is art for them too! But I want it to be circular, and I hope that museum visitors will want to walk around the neighborhood to get in touch with this humanity. »
According to the artist, we would all benefit from deepening the relationship with our city and the people who live there…
“We are connected,” she sums up simply.
Hochelaga – Montreal change
Joannie Lafreniere
Exhibition of photographs
McCord Stewart Museum, until September 10, 2023