Photographing Change: Reform and Photography in 1960s Little Burgundy

This walking tour invites guests to learn about and engage in discussion on the expropriation photos of Little Burgundy. Taken throughout the 1960s, these photos show the expropriated homes which were destroyed in the building of the Ville-Marie Expressway and the development of the neighbourhood.

Haunting and in some ways violent, the photos depict the homes of Little Burgundy residents of the 1960s, depicting the intrusion of city workers in their private domestic lives. Engaging with the story of the historically black neighbourhood and theories of photography, participants will be invited to discuss the photos and critically examine the role of photography in the expropriation process.

Oral history interviews from the COHDS archives are used to expand the image of the neighbourhood depicted in these photographs. We’ll hear the words of community members as we walk through the Little Burgundy today.

Serafina Swandel is an undergraduate student in Art History at Concordia University. As a student affiliate with COHDS, her research interests center around the intersections of oral history and craft and the way in which oral history can illuminate craft practices and relationships forged by craft. She is interested in a study of visual and material cultures that is socially and historically informed.