The previous blog post was about a large Montreal mural by Kevin Ledo that was a portrait of a woman called Mary Socktish. There are a number of other murals in the city that have a woman, or women, as the main feature. These are some of them – the following photos were taken on four visits to Montreal between 2015 and 2021 and some of these murals may no longer exist.
below: One of the older murals in Montreal, a graffiti granny, old woman by ASHOP Productions
below: A mural by five8art, a young woman looking skyward.
below: By a Depanneur at Pins and Hotel de Ville, a large mural of two seated women and their scarf by Australian artist Fintan Magee.
below: A mural by Rone, another Australian artist.
below: Sorry is Not Enough, a mural by Denial (or Enjoy Denial) with a shout out to Black Lives Matter
below: From 2018, this mural by Drew Merritt and Sainte Famille and Milton (photo taken in 2018 as well)
below: A tribute to Lea Roback (1903-2000), by Carlos Oliva (aka Hsix) in 2014. Roback was a textile worker who became a trade union activist, feminist and pacifist (among other things). She fought for woman’s suffrage in Quebec (1936), she played a role in helping to organize 5,000 garment workers who had been on a three-week strike in 1937, and that is only a small fraction of what she accomplished.
below: by Sandra Chevrier, pop culture references to Superman and Batman
below: A collaboration between Cyrielle Tremblay and Poni (aka Hilda Palafox, painted in 2018. Working in an imaginary garden maybe?
below: A whimsical black and white of women astronauts, guitar players, skate boarders, astronomers, and others. It is the work of Le Monstr, aka Benjamin Tran.
below: A mural from 2014 putting a spotlight on the call for justice for missing and murdered indigenous women.
Another large mural in Montreal painted by Kevin Ledo is this portrait of Mary Socktish of the Hupa tribe in Northern California . This 2014 work is based on an old photograph from a series on the Hupa people, taken by Edward Curtis in 1923.
The song “Hallelujah” is probably Leonard Cohen’s (1934-2016) most recognized work … or at least that’s what I think whenever I hear Leonard Cohen’s name, or see a picture of him. In Montreal, Cohen’s hometown, there is now a large mural of him that was painted by Kevin Ledo, also of Montreal.
Hallelujah Lyrics:
Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord That David played, and it pleased the Lord But you dont really care for music, do you? It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth The minor falls, the major lifts The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Your faith was strong but you needed proof You saw her bathing on the roof Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew her She tied you to a kitchen chair She broke your throne, and she cut your hair And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Well, maybe there’s a God above As for me all I’ve ever learned from love Is how to shoot somebody who outdrew you But it’s not a crime that you’re hear tonight It’s not some pilgrim who claims to have seen the Light No, it’s a cold and it’s a very broken Hallelujah
Well people I’ve been here before I know this room and I’ve walked this floor You see I used to live alone before I knew ya And I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch But listen love, love is not some kind of victory march, no It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah
There was a time you let me know What’s really going on below But now you never show it to me, do you? And I remember when I moved in you And the holy dove she was moving too And every single breath we drew was Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Now I’ve done my best, I know it wasn’t much I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch I’ve told the truth, I didnt come here to London just to fool you And even though it all went wrong I’ll stand right here before the Lord of song With nothing, nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah
Maika is another Montreal street artist. So far, these are the paste-ups of hers that I’ve seen as I’ve walked around the city.
Red, white, and blue, melting into a puddle.One face or two?The hand of David as a wing but with the head of a cow. You can’t start a fire with flowers can you? Lit.
A mural full of odd and somewhat disturbing faces can be found in a narrow alley near the corner of Prince Arthur St. and Saint Laurent Blvd. It was painted by Mono Sourcil, (aka Maxilie Martel) a Montreal street artist. It dates from Mural Festival 2017 and has survived well.
Some of the people look rather ordinary and are doing ordinary things…. others, not so much.
As you walk around the city of Montreal, you can probably spot quite a few paper paste-ups featuring collage images of people that were created by an artist that signs her pieces as Madame Gilles.
below: Similar image as above but this time on a door with another, including “One Day You Will Come” by @_doverin
below: A little less abstract and a lot less colour
The next two pictures show the same doorway. First the top section where once again the same image appears.
This post is a selection of stickers and paste ups (wheatpaste) that I saw in Montreal in the past few days.
below: A @dysastrophy bunny with a gas mask and a painted hand grenade.
below: Paste ups at number 4. That hand is reaching past the butterfly and flowers towards the door handle.
below: That’s supposed to be a green and purple Frida Kahlo and she’s saying something: “Nothing is absolute. Everything changes, everything moves, everything revolves, everything flies and goes away.“
below: “No man camps” says the sign. This is a protest sticker, as the yellow words on his jacket, Wetsuweten strong, suggest. It references their complaints and protests against the Coastal GasLink pipeline.
below: Little white ghost pretending to be something he’s not while he collects lost claws. Actually, lost claws is the name of the artist.
below: An elephant with a few cans of beer already consumed so he says “I won’t remember you”. This is another lost claws creation.
below: Waxhead sticker
below: An encounter with a couple of cowboys, a poster by someone with a signature that I haven’t been able to decipher.
below: A selection of paper wheatpaste in varying conditions. The blue ice cream in melting. The bottom left is another waxhead paste up….. And then there are some from TCF (the chosen few) including squiggles from forge fury, Tbonez (urban ninja squadron) is on his phone, and lastly a roc roc birdie by ROC(514) is starting to peel off.
below: “May an Old Song Open an Old Door” is a bright mural that catches your attention as you approach the entrance to Montreal’s Chinatown at Rene Levesque Blvd and St. Laurent. A woman holding a yellow lily stands between two red masks, one represents optimism for the future and the other represents nostalgia for a past left behind.
below: A close up of the opera singer in the center of the mural that was produced by MU and painted by Gene Pendon and Bryan Beyung in 2015. MU is an organization whose “mission is to beautify the city of Montreal by creating murals that are anchored in local communities.”
below: A more traditional Chinese painting based on calligraphy
below: “Salut Gilles” by Benny Wilding, a tribute to F1 driver Gilles Villeneuve. Unfortunately, a lot of it has been tagged over including the painting of the racing car.