Éliane C.

Éliane reached out to me as I was strolling on D'Amos Street in Montreal North on a magnificent Friday. She was taking a break outside the Centre de Formation professionnelle Calixa-Lavallée between classes in Infographics and she wanted to know why I had taken pictures of her school. I told her I had simply taken advantage of the beautiful September midday light that illuminated the facade. As we had started a conversation, I asked her if she would agree that I take some pictures of her. 

Éliane currently lives at an uncle’s place, in Ahuntsic, for the duration of her studies. From her looks, one would probably think she is a real city girl. However, although she was born in suburban St-Hubert, she spent most of her life in various localities of the Laurentians and much prefers small rural towns to the big city.

Interested in Visual Arts, she worked at the Val-David Exhibition Centre. She had also started attending a Cegep level program in Visual Arts, but quickly realized that it was not for her. She also seriously considered becoming a tattoo artist and is equipped with the necessary equipment to practice this craft. Some friends bear traces of her trials on their skin. She finally turned to Graphics Arts. She wants to work for the web as well as for print. She dreams of seeing one of her creations on a large billboard.

I asked her if there were stars of the publicity trade who influenced her. She replied she drew inspiration from various sources: Web sites, such as that of Urbania, but also much from her teachers. She has good words for those of Calixa-Lavallée. Overall, she appreciates that they have a solid professional experience to share with students. She likes to hear them explain their creative process.

Éliane described her own process to me as a sort of artistic chaos. She needs a period of trial drawing and brain storming to let ideas and images emerge. However, she is confident in her ability to deliver sharp and clear work as a final result.

Éliane considers becoming a freelancer after her Diploma of Vocational Studies. The prospect of working on diverse projects and creating strong images that will touch and convince people strongly motivates her. She kind of likes the idea that advertising images are short-lived. Come to think of it, this is quite a departure from tattoos, which can actually be around a long time!

At the end of the program, which will culminate in an internship, she plans to return to Ste-Agathe. She will live there either with her parents or her grandmother and give herself time to build a clientele. Meanwhile, before she can return to a collectivity closer to nature, the Île-de-la-Visitation Nature-Park is her green oasis in Montreal.

Éliane on lunch break

Celya B.

It’s my neighbor Clément C., a music teacher at Collège Regina Assumpta, ideaman and founding president of the Ahuntsic en Fugue festival  who put me in contact with Celya B .. She currently oversees the media relations and social media communications of this young festival organized “to create a concert space dedicated to chamber music” in Ahuntsic. We then met on the forecourt of the St-André-Apôtre Church, site of the 2015 edition’s first concert.

Celya and her older sister were born in Algiers. Their father was a journalist and radio host. The family fled the country in the first half of the black decade, fearing that the public statements of the father would imperil them. After a brief stay in France, where the prospects seemed unpromising, they arrived here when Celya was only two-year-old.

Her parents have done pretty well here, but not in the type of professions they occupied in Algeria. Celya is also doing well, having finished high school at Regina Assumpta and completed a CEGEP diploma in health sciences. However, she realized that this field was not for her. After a first year of university studies in industrial relations that, she considers, have made her more mature, she will begin a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sherbrooke in the Fall 2015. She expects to live some degree uprooting in this town. Indeed, when I asked what Ahuntsic meant to her, her response was "family". Still, she intends to continue talking every day with her older sister, who is a pharmacist in the neighborhood.

Celya is also involved in the FestiBlues held each summer in the Ahuntsic Park. After a first presence as a volunteer in 2010, she was hired as staff in 2011, then as human resources coordinator for the 2015 edition.

She is also involved in the organism Seize Your own Future, which "aims to transform the young women of today into leaders, encouraging them to develop their leadership and make informed choices in their lives and their careers." She writes on the organization’s website and promotes it through social media.

In addition to all these activities, she is coach of a good level synchronized swimming team at R2P Aquatic Club. She had previously practiced this sport at the Club Aquatique Pirahnas du Nord (CAPN) based at the Sophie-Barat swimming pool.

Although she is solidly rooted here and very involved in the community, and despite the fact that she has not visited Algeria much, she realized that her ties to her birth country are still strong because her best friends of the moment are also of Algerian origin. Will that change after a few years in the Eastern Townships?

http://www.ahuntsicenfugue.com/page-accueil.html#concerts

Celya B.

Noure C.

I hesitated a moment before approaching Noure, whom I met in the Parc de la Merci, near the Perry Island CNR bridge. She was cautiously filming with her mobile phone a crowd of geese and ducks in the river while her Sister Hiba was throwing food at them. When a seagull cockier than others flew very close to Hiba and disrupted her, the movie ended and I was able to talk to Noure without worrying about interrupting her.

Noure is studying humanities at CEGEP level in Montreal. Being a good listener, she leans towards the practice of psychology.

She was born in Casablanca, Morocco. Her family came here with the hope that she could be cured of a tumor in one eye. After some years and three operations for her, the whole family became fond of life in Quebec and is now installed here. After many moves, including some in Montreal North, she now lives in Laval with her mother, Hiba and another sister.

When invited to describe herself in a word, she thought for a moment and then replied: "A surprise box". She then explained that she does not like to feel the judgment of others and that her personality is revealed in its true light only when you take the time to know her better.

 She is unique.

Noure on the shore near Perry Island