Three exhibits to sharpen your critical eye at the McCord Stewart Museum

In the heart of downtown Montreal, the McCord Stewart Museum offers a variety of exhibits that lend a critical and inclusive eye to social history and contemporary challenges. Here are three must-see exhibits for this summer!

Portraits and Fashion: Quebec Photographers Beyond Borders

Highlighting artistic, editorial and commercial photography, the exhibit Portraits and Fashion: Quebec Photographers Beyond Borders presents the work of 17 local photographers, whose exceptional talent has influenced the current international photography scene. Beyond the superb photographs of fashion, visitors will have the chance to admire 100 iconic portraits, each of great interest. Twenty audiovisual items are also shared for viewing and offer you privileged access to the artistic process of the photographers. The exhibit, curated by Thierry-Maxime Loriot, is on display until September 29, 2024.

Norman Parkinson: Always in Style

Making its North American premiere and showing until September 2, 2024, the exhibit Norman Parkinson: Always in Style highlights the work of Norman Parkinson, a pillar of fashion photography in the 20th century, known for his dazzling ingenuity from the 1930s to the 1980s. His photographs, imbued with vivacity, spontaneity and humour, gave celebrity portraits new momentum, breaking with convention. The exhibit presents 79 of his most iconic photographs, including those featuring Audrey Hepburn, David Bowie and Jane Birkin, as well as a selection of 56 signed covers of major magazines.

Indigenous Voices of Today: Knowledge, Trauma, Resilience

The permanent exhibit Indigenous Voices of Today: Knowledge, Trauma, Resilience bears witness to the still unrecognized knowledge of Indigenous Peoples in Quebec and Canada, as well as the profound wounds that they carry and their incredible resilience faced with the traumas of the assimilation projects they survived. Presenting a hundred objects from the museum’s Indigenous Cultures collection chosen with care, as well as video and textual testimonials of members of the 11 Indigenous nations in Quebec, this exhibit offers a real meeting between peoples, motivated by the desire to launch a dialogue and build better mutual understanding.