We’re all familiar with movie theatres being replaced by video on demand, and local hardware stores being unable to compete with their big-box counterparts. One by one, numerous small stores have been driven out of business by large retail chains and online shopping, their now vacant spaces often left as-is, with empty windows and worn-out signs standing as markers of a bygone era. While we might walk by these old storefronts without paying them any mind, Jasmin Bilodeau positions us face to face with them and invites us to take stock of their true significance.

“Look, it’s so beautiful,” even in the past tense. Bilodeau has observed and photographed these storefronts for many years, sensitively documenting their quiet disappearance. Over time, his images have formed the background of digital interventions and assemblages incorporating trompe-l’œil effects to draw us in for a closer look. Graffiti tags on the Electrobec 2000 window create dissonant discourses that are both radical and comical, each mocking society’s reassuring idea of progress. Elsewhere, a facade is overwhelmed by what appear to be fallen leaves, but in fact are colourful, handmade garlands, reminding us of the role we play in the loss of these well-loved places, but also of our ability to celebrate what remains of them.
VU’s residency-exhibition program invited Jasmin Bilodeau to develop a new project in collaboration with the centre’s team over the past year. These works were photographed and printed in VU’s production studios.

This exhibition is part of our Points of Support programming, which invites artists to create forms of resistance, to play in the face of shifting and uncertain times, and to offer alternative perspectives that can deepen our view of the world.