The agency of photographs is a recurrent concern within the context of
the city. Whether found in architectural records, social documentary,
photojournalism, or artistic practice, photographic objects are embedded
in urban contestation, aesthetically charged by artists, reinserted into
social histories, and mobilized to imagine a future city. Photogenic
Montreal takes a question initially posed by heritage debates - what
does photography preserve? - and creates a rich conversation about the
agency of the human actors before and behind the camera, and of the
medium itself. The interplay of archives and activisms structures the
book. Photographs that appear to be sealed off in newspapers, storage
rooms, or archives accrue new meaning when they cross the threshold back
into social spaces and circulate anew. It is through the reactivation of
archival photographs that submerged traces of urban experience are
discovered, and alternate histories of Montreal can be recounted.
Multiple forms of activism and artistic expression complement this
archival work. Beginning in the 1960s, community-minded and heritage
groups responded to the tensions arising from urban reconstruction,
gentrification, and the erasure of neighbourhoods; this activism also
left its photographic traces. Attentive to the still-changing face of
the city's architecture, neighbourhoods, and street life, Photogenic
Montreal participates in debates about who the city belongs to, who
speaks on its behalf, and how to picture its past and present.
