In late summer of 2024, Virginia Creeper berries drape over chain link fencing that borders the Steinberg woodland and are carefully and minimally collected to make a vinegar. While poisonous for humans, these berries are a food source for migratory birds and other creatures that frequent the woodland. The sumac near the gashed fence is also in season and its bright, fuzzy berry clusters can be seen all over the site. The final sumac tea is poisonous for different reasons; the site’s soil conditions have been drastically altered by chemicals that were used by the steel industry in the 1900s and the glyphosate still sprayed by the Canadian National Railway along the tracks. The undeveloped double exposed rolls of film are souped in either this deep burgundy berry vinegar or tart sumac tea for hours, or days at a time. The rolls of film are then left to dry for a month before being developed. Final developed photos include an inter-frame gap that is usually cut out. Here, this in-between space is included, exposing elements of the landscape into the folds of the frames. In the end, this photography process contributes a position of slow witnessing and relational practice. The images show layered, enmeshed traces of what Liboiron’s capital L-Land: ruderal plants, encampments, celebrations, repair, industrial histories, protests, chemical transformations and more. Fully submerged or souped in the site itself, these images embody a refusal to abandon the actual site and the vibrant life of the so- called meanwhile. It’s a reminder that to stand still is not to do nothing, but to recognize the work of noticing, of refusing to abandon what doesn’t easily fit within dominant ecological and small-l land frameworks. As architects and artists, this might be one of the most urgent things we can do. £
Image souped in Virginia Creeper berry vinegar for 24 hours. Barbed wire fencing located on the outer edges of the Steinberg Woodland exposed over openings along a steel building located next to L’Antenne. The Steinberg forest was recently acquired by the City of Montreal from Hydro-Quebec. Mobilization 6600 helped stop plans to build a transformer station and later prevented the extension of the Assomption Blvd through Steinberg.
Image souped in sumac tea for 24 hours. The first exposure, taken in early September, shows the ground along the edge of a path in the Steinberg woodland with the folds of a dark blanket. This serves as the backdrop for the sky in the second exposure, taken in October, where we see the tops of trees from the same woodland.
un-captioned images on pp 14-16: Double-exposed analogue photographs, souped in either berry vinegar or sumac tea harvested from the site. Images were taken between summer 2024 and winter 2025.
all images Ann-Catherine Lemonde
16 on site review 47 :: standing still
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