What’s new
29 Nov, 2021 A Matter of Paper
Some of our readers pointed out that the latest issue of the Archigai was printed on a thicker paper than usual.
That is true. This is on the printer’s own initiative. Some of you may have also heard media reports about the paper shortage the printing industry is currently facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, our printing company offered to use thicker paper and had the generosity to charge us the regular price for this issue.
We would like to thank MP Steven Guilbeault and MNA Manon Massé for purchasing advertisements in our last Archigai newletter, which made its printing possible.
Rest assured that the Gay Archives of Quebec always spends the money that you donate to us every year in a wise manner.
24 Nov, 2021 A fruitful collaboration
On the Quebec Gay Archives website, you may have noticed a short stop-motion film titled Parade. This work by Jean-Pierre Fortin is his second collaboration with the Quebec Gay Archives.
The originality of this short film stems from the way it showcases little known objects from our collections, such as pins, matches, condoms, etc. In less than 30 minutes, we can see them pass by in neat ranks. In addition to displaying the diversity of our collections, this short is very playful and interesting.
Jean-Pierre Fortin took it upon himself to support the Archives’ mission by creating photographic and video works that illustrate the memories of LGBTQ2S+ communities in Quebec, all by using our collections. With Parade, we can see that his endeavour was successful.
15 Nov, 2021 Conference of a free woman
On the evening of November 10th, about 30 people attended Rachele Borghi’s conference at the Euguélionne bookstore.
This French researcher, who is currently doing her residency at the Quebec Gay Archives, captivated her audience for two hours as she presented her research on the deconstruction of academic knowledge with the goal of challenging patriarchal domination.
She has recently published Décolonialité et privilège (Éd. Daronnes, 2020), a work in which, from her perspective as a white woman and feminist activist, she traces a path to freedom from the established everyday order.
15 Nov, 2021 Our fundraising campaign
A small reminder for our 2021 fundraising campaign which started in October.
Do not forget that on January 21th 2022, there will be a draw for a work graciously donated by the artist Françoise Sullivan, signatory of the 1948 manifesto Refus Global, and, alongside Paul-Émile Borduas, a founding member of the avant-garde group Les Automatistes. She is currently part of a group exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) in New York.
This year, by buying a $75 ticket, you can get a chance to win a work by Françoise Sullivan valued at $1750. You will also receive a tax receipt for your donation and at the same time become a member of the Archives for a year. For a $500 donation, you will receive seven (7) tickets and a series of postal cards by photographer Robert Laliberté.
You can submit your donation online or by filling out this coupon.
12 Nov, 2021 Visitors from the consulate general of France
This week, the Quebec Gay Archives welcomed Joséphine Loux and Margaux Bruet, two (2) officers of the Consulate general of France.
It is in the context of the project financed by the Office de coopération franco-québécois pour la jeunesse that they met the team of the Quebec Gay Archives. As they discussed the project with our visitors, our coordinator Pierre Pilotte and our archivist Simone Beaudry-Pilotte gave them a visit and as well as an overview of our collections.
It was an interesting meeting.
20 Oct, 2021 An addition to the Jean Guilda fonds
The AGQ recently acquired an important addition to the Jean Guilda fonds: photographs, a vinyl record, a CD, periodicals, and an early painting by Guilda, accompanied by a photo of the model.
The archives were donated by Mr. Raynald Bordeleau, who was a friend of the famous female impersonator.
Many thanks to Mr. Bordeleau for this donation.
20 Oct, 2021 Our team is expanding!
This October, the Gay Archives of Quebec team welcome V. Samoylenko, who will work with us for the next six months thanks to an Emploi-Québec subsidy. V. Samoylenko has already been working as an assistant archivist for a few days now. In addition to helping Simone Beaudry-Pilotte in her tasks, they will be supporting researchers in their projects.
Having created the exhibit Walls Have Ears in summer 2020 for their internship, V. Samoylenko knows the Gay Archives of Quebec very well, so we are happy to have them back among us.
15 Oct, 2021 Welcome to the AGQ
From the 20th of October until the 14th of November, The Quebec Gay Archives welcome Rachele Borghi, a French researcher, as part of the Programme de coopération franco-québécois, to work on the emotional aspect of archives as well as on rendering visible memories marginalized by dominant discourses.
Her research-creation approach seeks to mobilize memory in the present. With the collaboration of Camilla Penzo, she will seek to understand how to transform past activist experiences into tools of empowerement in our current lives.
For Rachele, the archive is a magical space, a place of interconnectedness between past and present, a marginal space which “offers to one the possibility of radical perspective from which to see and create, to imagine alternatives, new worlds” (bell hooks).
We wish them a very pleasant stay in Montreal.
10 Oct, 2021 The AGQ at McGill and Concordia universities
During the month of October, the AGQ had the opportunity to promote their collections and services to Montreal’s english universities.
On October 5th, Simone Beaudry-Pilotte gave a presentation in Simon-Pierre Lacasse’s Public History course at Concordia University, attented by approximately 40 students.
On October 7th, Pierre Pilotte was present during the vernissage of the Recipe for a Queer Cookbook exhibition, curated by Alex Ketchum at McGill University. Approximately 30 people were present for this event.
28 Sep, 2021 An Insightful Read
Recently published at Éditions Québec Amérique is a book to which the Quebec Gay Archives brought a modest contribution. The book in question is Serge Fisette’s L’homosexualité masculine au Québec, in which the author, a friend and donor of the Quebec Gay Archives, paints a picture of masculine homosexuality, from the beginnings of French colonisation to today.
Following significant events throughout Québec history, Fisette depicts the evolution of society’s moral and political perceptions of this “disease”.
Although our current era is not perfect, this captivating book allows us to look back on the progresses made, and to be thankful for our present circumstances.
28 Sep, 2021 A residency at the Quebec Gay Archives
French artistic duo Laura Bottereau & Marine Fiquet was born in 2013. They are currently living in Nantes. Questioning norms and dynamics of domination through drawing, sculpture, installation, text, photography, and video, Bottereau & Fiquet draw from the childhood experience for not only its playful aspects, but also for its cruelties, desires, and taboos. Their artistic approach, both intimate and political, is interweaved with their lesbian subjectivity, as well as their queer and feminist conscience.
These two artists are currently undertaking a residency at the Quebec Gay Archives, from September 13th to October 7th, 2021. They will be followed by researcher and lecturer Rachele Borghi, who will be at the Quebec Gay Archives from October 20nd to November 15th, 2021.
This project was made possible thanks to the Programme de coopération France-Québec, which is coordinated jointly by Quebec’s ministère des Relations internationales de la Francophonie and by France’s ministère de l’Europe et des Affaires étrangères.
14 Sep, 2021 Guided tours of montréal’s 2SLGBTQI+ historic sites
If you have been walking downtown or in the Village recently, you might have noticed sign panels that feature some of our archives. Those mark the location of 50 sites of importance for 2SLGBTQI+ communities, in the heart of our city, presented by Fierté Montréal , in partnership with the Quebec Gay Archives and Spade & Palacio.
From Café Cléopâtre to La Paryse, the Outgames, or the Chapelle de l’espoir, come discover important 2SLGBTQI+ locations and establishments from out city’s past.
Free guided tours are offered from August 12th to October 17th, 2021.
On foot (Beaudry station departure) :
- Thursday and Friday from 6 pm to 8 pm (french)
- Saturday from 5 pm to 7 pm (english)
- Sunday from 2 pm to 4 pm (french)
By bike (Place Émilie-Gamelin departure) :
- Thursday and Friday from 6 pm to 8 pm (french)
- Saturday from 5 pm to 7 pm (english)
- Sunday from 5 pm to 7 pm (french)
On mini bus (Place Émilie-Gamelin departure) :
- Sunday from 1 pm to 3 pm (french)
For more information for reservations, please consult this page.
10 Sep, 2021 A delightful fall exhibition
Until October 9th, come visit the Village on Sainte-Catherine Street between Saint-Hubert and Alexandre-DeSève. Be careful not to speak too loudly though, because the Walls have Ears.
Taking inspiration from queer mapping projects Queering the Map and Mapping Montreal’s Queer Spaces, the project Walls have ears: The Stories of LGBTQ2S+ Spaces seeks to not only put the diverse experiences of LGBTQ2S+ people on a map, but also to render them audible and combine different types of media.
The project presents oral history narrations as well as historical capsules about key queer neighbourhoods. As such, it highlights spaces that are important for the interview participants all while providing historical context to Montreal’s LGBTQ2S spaces and communities. Considering time and pandemic-related constraints, the number of participants was unfortunately limited. The quality of their stories, however, is enough to transport us to a bygone time and place.
The physical exhibition will be shown on the pedestrian portion of Sainte-Catherine until October 9th. It will also be accessible online on our website.
This project was made possible thanks to financial and material support from our partners: FIERTÉ MONTRÉAL, MOUVEMENT DESJARDINS, QUÉBECOR, FUGUES, CANADA SUMMER JOBS, EMPLOI QUÉBEC, VILLAGE MONTRÉAL, to whom we owe the installation of the exhibition on Sainte-Catherine, the succession Frank W. Remiggi and the donors of the Archives gaies du Québec.
02 Sep, 2021 An exibition at McGill University with the AGQ
This fall, the Quebec Gay Archives are collaborating with McGill’s Dr. Alex Ketchum’s exhibition “Recipe for a Queer Cookbook”. This exhibition, organised as part of Queer History Month, is an overview of many recipe books and other documents written on the subject of queer cuisine.
The AGQ are loaning 3 documents for this project, all of them belonging to our zine collection acquired from Viviane Namaste in 2007. The zines in question are: “Hot Lip”, “Diseased Pariah News”, and “Fuzz Box”.
The exhibition will take place in the hallways of the Leacock Building of McGill University, from August 18th to December 20th, 2021. There will be a vernissage on October 7th, where we will give a short presentation of the AGQ, along with Laure Neuville of the Quebec Lesbian Archives, who also collaborated with Dr. Ketchum for this project. The exhibition is also available online.