Project Background

Since opening its doors, the MEM – Centre des mémoires montréalaises has made it its mission to involve Montrealers in showcasing the city's many identities, giving pride of place to community-driven projects. It was in this spirit that La bande à Paul was invited to work on Le Cucitrici, an initiative of the Alliance Donne collective honouring the Italian seamstresses who settled in Montreal after the Second World War.

What La bande à Paul Brought to the Table

At the heart of this project were the stories of first- and second-generation Italian women who made Quebec home in the postwar years. Through a design that playfully borrows from the world of the needle trade - fabrics, sewing machines, patterns, spools of thread - portraits and testimonials weave together themes of solidarity, empowerment, resourcefulness, and heritage. Socially engaged, the exhibition is also environmentally minded: by reusing personal belongings and repurposing materials already steeped in history, the team created deeply human displays while dramatically reducing the exhibition's ecological footprint - 95% of the materials were reused, either collected or donated.