Exhibition: The Great Peace of Montreal-Stones of Remembrance Series by Sylvain Rivard aka Vainvard

Participatory artwork initiated as part of Peace Days 2024 at the Sacred Fires cultural
space in the Old Montreal.
Here, the vigorous action of driving a nail equivalent to marking one’s presence, while
the gesture of knotting the wool is equivalent of tying an agreement. I don’t care for the
colonial political aspect and the balance of power; it is the principles of peace and
duality that inspire me. A period of calm settles in by necessity on the marks left by the
blows. An absence of disturbances and violence filled with humanity.
This image commemorates an historical event. The chosen stone evokes the Montreal
Island. It is part of one of the remaining walls of the old Frères Charon general hospital
(1695). A charity building having witnessed the events of The Great Peace.