Sunday, February 23, 2020

"Griffintown" @ Montreal's McCord Museum

This weekend I had the pleasure of touring a newly-opened exhibition at the McCord Museum.

In this show, Montreal photographer Robert Walker shares twenty large-scale photos of Griffintown, a working-class Montreal neighbourhood, now undergoing radical gentrification. Another hundred or so of his photos are shown as projected images. Also on display are historic photos of the neighbourhood from the museum's archive.




Walker often juxtaposes the slick and glamorous "lifestyle" images used to promote the condos with the reality of their construction, and the consequent deconstruction of the neighbourhood. The viewer cannot help but ask:

  • what is lost?
  • what is gained?
  • what is promised?

You can find out more about the McCord's Griffintown photo exhibition here.

For those of you who appreciate the art of urban photography, have a look at this youtube video of Robert Walker on the job, in which he shares his approach and aesthetic considerations.




The show is the inauguration of an ongoing series at the McCord, Evolving Montreal.
"To document Montreal’s ongoing urban transformation, in the next few years the Museum will be commissioning well-known local photographers to explore the changes occurring in a neighbourhood of their choice."
The exhibition Griffintown continues until August 9, 2020.

2 comments:

Margaret said...

You had me at "McCord Museum", a place I've not visited in many years. And "photography". I watched the video and forwarded the link to my photographer daughter for her interest and info. But for me...it was interesting in a different way...it got me thinking about how I see my landscape (very rural) in a different light. What about it captivates me? Why? How? How do I interpret it in fabric, even as a photographer interprets scenes (rural or urban) in film, in print on paper or canvas?

I'm not a particular fan of people who print photos and quilt them -- unless they do something significant, particular, peculiar -- to manipulate the photo so that it is really translated into fabric and stitch and isn't merely a photo that has been quilted.

This fellow's thought process, stimulating mine vis a vis how/why I work the way I do...well, now -- that's of interest to me - and I thank you!

Heather Dubreuil said...

I'm so glad the video struck a chord with you, Margaret. I found it instructive that Walker was so intentional about his composition as he framed his shots.