- PARC-EX-
Juillet 2015 - Décembre 2015
@ La Place Commun
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La Place Commun
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La Place Commun is a vibrant autonomously run cooperative café and community space in the Parc Ex neighbourhood. Before it had even opened its doors, people who knew about my project and theirs were insisting that this was the place to work on the Quilted/Quartier of the neighbourhood.
I'll admit, before working on this quilt I hadn't spent too much time in the neighbourhood other than occasional adventures. But Parc Ex felt familiar to me right from the start, since there is a lot of cross over between St-Henri, my own neighbourhood. I wasn't sure exactly where I was going, but the yarn bombed street signs were like beacons directing me home, to a little patio nestled with raised garden beds. La Place Commun is a community space created by neighbours, for neighbours, emphasizing food sovereignty and accessible art. The cooperative café provides affordable vegetarian comfort food that is sources ethically and often locally and that summer, two members of the coop offered an organic produce basket. Parc Ex is known as one of Montréal's more culturally diverse neighbourhood, and this was reflected in the vibrant colours and textures participants brought to their quilt pieces. Many participants included fabric prints or needlecraft that reflect latin and south-asian roots (among many, many others) with a strong Montréal connection. Through the creation of this quilt stories emerged of childhood homes and kindergarten; of growing up, leaving on worldly adventures before returning home again; and of moving to this place as an adult, a wide-eyed immigrant with much to get used to, The stories shared taught me a couple of lessons on the triviality of borders. The patchwork in this quilt represents how we can come to call more than one place home. Just because we feel one foot firmly grounded in a place does not mean we cannot have our other feet planted elsewhere. It is possible to commit ourselves to the creation of resilient community in many geographic spaces, and when we do this we are able to bring the richness from each of our home places. Resilient communities foster resilience across great distances. The second lesson this neighbourhood quilt taught me, is one that I've been learning a bit throughout this entire project, but that became more tangible with the drawing of the Parc Ex quilt pattern: divisions of space are relative and deeply personal. Sure, to a certain extent, we as a community, come together and decide that there is something that inherently makes this neighbourhood different from another. Sometimes, the divisions between neighbourhoods are agreed upon collectively; they take the form of canals, freeways, railway tracks, certain streets or avenues. Sometimes the divisions are passed down through history or implied by architectural styles, other times they are imposed by governments for reasons that prove inconsequential and somewhat mysterious to the actual residents of the neighbourhood. When the latter is the case, the boundaries of a neighbourhood can become quite contentious, as Parc Ex taught me. |
This is a neighbourhood with such a unique flavour. The core of the neighbourhood is cushioned between autoroutes and railway tracks that leave no question. But just beyond these boundaries, are spaces that are also considered Parc Ex by municipal maps and electoral districts. And these are spaces that beg the question, are they Parc Ex, or are they Villeray, Mile Ex, etc? Parc Jarry is the playground for the residents of both Parc Ex and Villeray, so which quilt should claim this territory? Well, the Villeray Quilted/Quartier has not yet begun, so that might be a question for another day, but in the meantime here's something to consider: why does it have to be either or?
Throughout this project, we have been redrawing the boundaries of the neighbourhoods based on popular consensus and after, sometimes, hours of debate, and that has been one of the most beautiful impacts of this community project. Because really, when it comes down to it, the "other side of the tracks" is just another arbitrary line in the sand.
So here is a map of Parc Ex that may, or may not seem familiar in shape, compared to other maps you have seen until now:
Throughout this project, we have been redrawing the boundaries of the neighbourhoods based on popular consensus and after, sometimes, hours of debate, and that has been one of the most beautiful impacts of this community project. Because really, when it comes down to it, the "other side of the tracks" is just another arbitrary line in the sand.
So here is a map of Parc Ex that may, or may not seem familiar in shape, compared to other maps you have seen until now:
