Deconstructing Prejudice and Stigma

The Exhibition (IN)VISIBLE: Design Through the Prism of Homelessness will be held at UQAM Design Centre, in collaboration with Architecture Without Borders Quebec (AWBQ), professor Carolyne Grimard of the École de travail social at the Université de Montréal, and with the participation, among others, of Anne-Marie Broudehoux, professor at the École de design at UQAM, from May 23 to June 16. The housing crisis, elsewhere in the world, remains one of the triggers that accentuates homelessness. An increasingly visible phenomenon, homelessness is often invisibilized by urban strategies such as hostile design or the dismantling of urban camps.

Photo credit: Luis Trépanier

The exhibition is the result of research conducted over two years in collaboration with community organizations and people who have experienced homelessness. It proposes a reflection on how to make the spatial claims of homeless people visible, without harming them. This takes shape by borrowing several tools from the fields of design: critical mapping, photovoice, a visual method that uses photography as a voice, participatory design, and critical design. These tools draw on various types of experiential, artistic, practical, and expert knowledge.

Photo credit: Elizabeth_Prince

Photo credit: Kassandra Reynolds

Architecture Without Borders Quebec (AWBQ)

Architecture Without Borders Quebec (AWBQ) is an organization assisting populations suffering from crises, natural disasters, and social inequalities. The organization works with communities to build their capacities through the involvement of different actors in the architectural field. AWBQ works overseas with other Canadian international cooperation organizations, and within Quebec, in urban areas, and with Indigenous peoples.

Created in 2008 by the Order of Architects of Quebec (OAQ), AWBQ represents the official humanitarian arm of the architectural profession. It promotes members’ social responsibility and volunteer involvement, and includes all 4,500 architects from the province. Based on this unique partnership among professional organizations, AWBQ also benefits from the commitment of other trades and numerous partners in the implementation of its programs.