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Event

Mapping Montreal in comics: Michel Hellman's lecture (in French)

Wednesday, May 29, 2024 10:30to12:30
CRIEM, 680 Sherbrooke ouest, Montréal, QC, CA

Created thanks to a donation from the McConnell Foundation, the position of McConnell Professor of Practice enables a professional recognized in his or her field of practice to carry out research and knowledge transfer activities in collaboration with CIRM members and local and international partners. For 2024-2025, Michel Hellman, cartoonist, illustrator, lecturer at the Université du Québec en Outaouais and art history teacher, was selected to encourage research-creation on the theme of the neighborhood or neighborhood life, and to further a collaboration with the Montreal Comic Arts Festival (MCAF). He is the author of the graphic novelsÌýMile End (2011, Pow Pow) and Nunavik (2016, Pow Pow), and has participated in numerous residencies and exhibitions, including one on the Côte-des-Neiges district organized by the district's Maison de la culture. He holds a B.A. and an M.A. in art history from ¿´Æ¬ÊÓƵ University, and is interested in the relationship between urban space and comics.

During this conference, Michel Hellman will present his research and creation project in detail. Please note that the conference will take place in French.

What makes a neighborhood special? What is its "soul"? What is the history of Montréal's different neighborhoods? What is the experience of a neighborhood for a recent immigrant? What are the consequences of gentrification for vulnerable and marginalized populations? Is it possible to co-construct a neighborhood portrait that uses stories, rather than statistical data, as "social indicators of a neighborhood"? To answer these questions, Michel Hellman proposes to create, in comic strip form, a "sensitive" cartography (one that records personal experience of the territory) of Montréal's different neighborhoods: a narrative cartography that will bring together portraits, stories, anecdotes and slices of life.

Comic arts are an excellent tool for popularization, and have obvious educational value. Its playful, accessible language enables it to reach a wide audience. To realize this project, Michel Hellman will rely on field research, but will also draw on the contributions of the various researchers associated with CIRM (to discuss urbanization, architecture, economics, language or literature, for example). It will therefore be a participative creative work.

RSVP by May 24, 5 p.m. to assunta.fiorita [at] mcgill.ca (subject: RSVP%20%2F%20Michel%20Hellman%20lecture)

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