{"id":6037,"date":"2026-06-25T15:13:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T19:13:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/museejuifmontreal.ca\/?post_type=mjm_exhibition&p=6037"},"modified":"2026-07-15T14:50:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T18:50:45","slug":"back-river","status":"publish","type":"mjm_exhibition","link":"https:\/\/museejuifmontreal.ca\/en\/exhibition\/back-river\/","title":{"rendered":"BACK RIVER"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Weaving together themes of loss, memory, community, and urban landscapes, BACK RIVER contemplates what is forgotten, and how it can be remembered.<\/p><\/div>

View Exhibition Catalogue<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n

Sonia Bazar\u2019s body of work presented in BACK RIVER is named for Montreal\u2019s oldest standalone Jewish burial site: the Back River Cemetery. Established in the 1880s in the Montreal neighborhood of Ahuntsic, the cemetery is one of the earliest resting places for first-generation Jewish migrants to Canada. Built upon swampland and founded for a growing immigrant community, the cemetery today holds a peculiar and enigmatic place in the city\u2019s landscape.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Following the peak of its use in the 1930s and 1920s, Back River came close to abandonment in the late 20th century, followed by renewed interest to restore the historic site in the 1990s by the Jewish community. Still in use today for community burials, many of which are indigent, Back River\u2019s flood-prone terrain combined with climate change make maintenance and conservation an ongoing struggle. Montreal\u2019s urban growth has also been shaped by the cemetery. Its two sections \u2013 the old and the new \u2013 are bisected by rue Sauv\u00e9, with the Sauv\u00e9 Metro station at the centre of the intersection that cuts through the site; the Metro line itself was built directly beneath the Back River in the 1960s.<\/p>\n

The cemetery\u2019s physical fragmentation and mired landscape mirrors its story, which remains relatively unknown by the local Jewish community or by Ahunstic\u2019s majority French-Canadian and newly-arrived immigrant residents. Sonia Bazar\u2019s work ruminates on the challenges of solving the puzzle surrounding the cemetery\u2019s founding, evolution, and near-abandonment. With the artist\u2019s own family members buried at the Back River, piecing together knowledge of this space becomes an act of personal archiving and placemaking. However, absence and scarcity of information about the Back River Cemetery remain a core part of its story and the memory of its occupants.<\/p>\n

Through research-creation using archival sources and oral histories, Bazar invites us to become part of the cemetery\u2019s contemporary archive as she reimagines its 140-year history through photography, installation, and sculptural work.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n\n

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