strong>Clôture de la honte (Mont-Royal – Parc Extension)
In 2008 I began periodically documenting, in different seasons, the chain-link fence/hedge obstruction that divides TMR (Town of Mount Royal, a model suburb developed as a largely upper income community in the 1950s and 60s) and Park Extension, the low-income, largely immigrant neighbourhood immediately to the east of TMR on the island of Montreal. Viewing the fence from Park Extension into TMR, the barrier stretches for more than twenty blocks and is punctuated by a limited number of small gates that allow people to move from one neighbourhood to the other. Viewing the barrier from TMR into Park Extension the sense of division is diffused by the orientation of roads and houses. It is apparent for whom the barrier has been constructed. In English, clôture de la honte means fence of shame.
This work was created for the exhibition Beaux rêves, dures verities Sweet Dreams, Hard Truths that took place at the Musée d’art de Joliette in Joliette, Quebec from January 31 to May 25, 2010. The curator of the exhibition was Eve-Lyne Beaudry.
Made with the assistance of Mike Love
Media: Inkjet on tyvek
Dimensions: variable
Photography: Richard-Max Tremblay