Photogenic Montreal

"The agency of photographs is a recurrent concern but one that is reshaped in the city. Whether 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--the neighbourhoods, industrial buildings, and thoroughfares from where they came. It is through the reactivation of archival photographs that submerged traces of urban experience are discovered, iconic images and exhibitions have radicalized photographic preservation, and alternate histories of Montreal can be recounted. Multiple forms of activism 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."--