The Extent of Our Struggles
The Extent of Our Struggles marked the 50th anniversary of a historic and forgotten demonstration where 200 women chained themselves to each other in protest of the adoption of an anti-demonstration bylaw by the City of Montreal in 1969. On that night, realising the extent of their power, a group of young activists founded the Front de libération des femmes. Quebec's first radical feminist group was born.
Fifty years later, the City of Montreal refused to grant me permission to hold a monumental video projection to commemorate the event on the grounds that the borough did not allow public artworks with a political component. I decided push forward and organised the projection guerrilla-style with a few orange cones in lieu of an official permit. It felt like a fitting homage to Quebec's pioneering radical feminists.
Art historian Josianne Poirier devoted a chapter to our “illegal” video projection in her essay Montréal fantasmagorique, la part d'ombre des animations lumineuses urbaines (Lux Éditeur, 2022).