The ACT UP MONTRÉAL photo exhibition captures a critical moment in queer history

“People were very sick, and it was maybe the last time we were going to see them. At the time, in the early ’90s, there was no medication. When you were seropositive, your life was really shortened,” says René LeBoeuf. “You had no time to waste. It was important for them to do something, at least for the people who came after them. It was very important and very motivating.”

LeBoeuf is recalling the urgency he and his friends felt when they were protesting as part of ACT UP MONTRÉAL, from 1990 to 1993. With HIV raging through the community and governments holding steadfast in their inaction, the activists held mass demonstrations, raising awareness and fighting for the virus they faced to be recognized as the fatal threat that it was.

He’s gazing down at large prints of the photos he took at the time — dozens of black and white shots commemorating the public actions and the people who undertook them, many people since taken by HIV/AIDS. These photos will soon be lining the walls of les Archives gaies du Québec for its exhibition The Aesthetic Activism of ACT UP MONTRÉAL: a history in photos and posters, running from June 13 to Aug. 13.

Organized as part of 2023 Pride season, the exhibit is an opportunity to learn about a critical moment in queer history, coming at a time when more people are reaching out to learn about this past.

“There’s such a resurgent interest in ACT UP, especially in New York,” says Mark Andrew Hamilton, the exhibit’s curator. Now 30 years since the HIV/AIDS crisis, there’s been a surge of books and documentaries released, all particularly focusing on the original ACT UP chapter in NYC.

“People forget that there were all of these other ACT UPs and they accomplished quite a lot,” Hamilton explains. 

“It’s a surprise for me,” says LeBeouf about this exhibit featuring his work. “We gave our pictures to the archive because we wanted people to see them. After 30 years, we were forgotten. Suddenly, in the last two or three years, people want to know about ACT UP, know about our fights against AIDS and for gay marriage.”

He says it’s a part of history that the younger generation of the community wasn’t very familiar with, but that’s changing.

“They lived up to the name, for sure,” says Hamilton. “They were acting up all the time. Parc de l’Espoir (Ste-Catherine E.) is a park that they seized and basically took from the city and fought to keep.

To this day, Parc de l’Espoir remains a meeting place for the community. It’s the place to go to commemorate the yearly World AIDS Day, or to seek comfort when tragedy strikes.

“It’s a place of remembrance, and people might not know why it’s there or who put it there, but I want them to,” Hamilton continues. 

The exhibit grew out of Mark’s thesis for his Masters in History, looking at the aesthetics of ACT UP MONTRÉAL. He came across LeBoeuf’s work in the archives and they began meeting to talk about ACT UP and its activism in Montreal and abroad. 

“At my age, I feel like there’s this hole above me of people that are gone,” Hamilton says. “There are very few elders like René for me to talk to and learn about the generation before me. The fact that I have that opportunity is really, really incredible. It’s emotionally heavy, but also very fulfilling because there is this knowledge that’s coming down now, and so if we can put it in the show and more people know, then that knowledge transfer continues.”

Looking at the photos, LeBoeuf has vivid memories of being there behind the camera.

“To be in the place and see these people, the emotion, the noise it was making — when you see the pictures, people were so motivated. we had to fight something. (…) We had no time to lose. It was the passion of the moment.

“And the subject may be a little bit sad, but the atmosphere with the people there was very thrilling, and we had fun,” LeBoeuf says.

“There’s a sense of humour, which is very uniquely Quebec,” Hamilton agrees. “All the stuff that’s written about ACT UP New York is just so serious, so dark. And then you come and look at what these guys were doing, and it’s got this Québécois cheek to it, as dark as things were.”

While they study photos taken 30 years ago, LeBoeuf and Hamilton can draw parallels between what was happening then and the current issues the community is facing, with mounting attacks on trans rights and drag queens occurring not just south of the border but here in this province as well. 

“I think the fight is never over,” says Hamilton. “There are people who are unsafe in Montreal. But it’s nice to have this model to look at as to how you can organize and how you can achieve things and come together. You can do something.” ■

The Aesthetic Activism of ACT UP MONTRÉAL: a history in photos and posters runs June 13 to Aug. 13 at les Archives gaies du Québec (1000 Atateken, #201-A).

This article was originally published in the June 2023 issue of Cult MTL.

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