COVID-19 exhibit at Montreal’s McCord Museum

There’s a new exhibit at Montreal’s McCord Museum that will bring you back to the first days of pandemic lockdown.

From September 16 to January 22, the museum will present INCIPIT – COVID-19, an exhibition of photographs by Michel Huneault.

Through 30 works and three projections of photos and videos comprising over 150 images, Huneault takes you back to the daily realities of the first months of the pandemic as experienced by Montrealers, healthcare workers and patients suffering from COVID-19.

The idea is to encourage the public to reflect back on the series of events that put the world on pause.

Michel Huneault, Freda leaves the isolation floor after recovering from COVID-19, Maimonides, Geriatric Center, Montreal, June 22, 2020, M2022.13.26, McCord Stewart Museum

Michel Huneaul, Temporary annex, Verdun Hospital, Montreal, May 29, 2020, M2022.13.23, McCord Stewart Museum

“In the spring of 2020, as Montreal was being hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Quebec government ordered a general lockdown and the closure of businesses and schools in order to reduce the spread of the virus. Struck by the historic nature of the situation, the McCord Stewart Museum gave photographer Michel Huneault carte blanche to document this unprecedented upheaval. From April to August, he attempted to comprehend and capture images of the scourge that was spreading across the planet and continues to affect daily life to this day,” said the museum in a press release.

Huneault was eventually granted access to Notre-Dame Hospital, Verdun Hospital and the Maimonides Geriatric Centre, where he spent 20 non-consecutive days from May 8 to June 22, 2020, establishing a relationship of mutual trust with their respective teams.

The photographer strongly believes that, for the population as a whole, having access to these images and these places is essential to clearly understanding the context of our sacrifices, rounding out our personal experiences, and continuing our efforts to comprehend what happened and what is still happening.

“I pictured these three research areas—private space, public space and healthcare space—to try to understand the confusion of COVID more clearly, and to chart a methodical path through this intimidating task. Gradually, I realized that this project’s particular contribution would be in the interplay between these three visually isolated realities—some of them invisible to many— from a perspective that’s descriptive but also artistic, personal, collective,” said Huneault.

“Beyond the urgency and the pervading tension, I think a strong sense of solidarity emerges when you see these photographs grouped together in a single space, a single moment. Our respective efforts take on meaning, our experiences gain closure,” explained Huneault.

“The McCord Stewart Museum’s mission is to document the social history of Montreal. Michel Huneault’s sensitive but never sensationalist photographs offer a striking and extremely touching perspective on this period that will remain an important chapter in Montreal’s history. The Museum is very proud to add the 30 works hanging in this gallery to our collection, where they will continue to bear witness to history in the making,” said Suzanne Sauvage, CEO of the McCord Stewart Museum.