rue Généreux IS A TAROT POEtry PROJECT FOR HEALING

about the poems:

Rue Généreux is an 8 card Tarot Spread for healing in public space that uses poetry, street art, graffitti and design to help process the pain, chaos and isolation of the global pandemic. The project exists in analog form as wheat paste poems posted in a Montreal alley on rue Généreux (poem vandal!) and in digital form on this website and my Instagram (@crowlake). The poems were created using a collage of notes from my iPhone from the past year, observations of people and objects from the alley, Tarot card images and descriptions, and a collection of words tagged throughout the city.

Experienced in two public spaces, urban and digital, covenmtl speaks to my feelings of loss and hope for the electric city of Montreal over the haunt, survival, resilience and emptiness of this past year. Seeing my neighbourhood slowly dripping back to life has been thawing a block of ice in me and I want to share the sun in some small way.

about the alley:

This year I really missed strangers and the community of vibrancy and belonging that this city can offer. I sounds strange, but I took comfort in seeing life go on in the dirty alley of Généreux right near my house in the Plateau. Populated by dumpsters more than by plants, the alley is a far cry from a “ruelle vert” but I walked down it most days and in every season in 2020. It was a constant that held me and kept me connected to life. Its predictable honesty, sounds, people and routines were a balm that seemed to say “Yes we’re still here, drastically reassembled, we are still alive.” The alley isn’t clean or perfect but neither am I, nothing real is.

If you are viewing this digitally and would like to see the poems in the alley itself the walk starts on the corner of rue Généreux and Papineau and ends on rue Généreux and Pontiac. Just keep walking straight towards the mountain until you hit the beige thawing heart on the brick wall.

about the conversation:
For each of the poems the project asks its audience to reflect on a question connected to collective and individual healing. I would love to hear your responses! You can submit your anonymous reflections to each question on the card by clicking on the individual cards in the spread below. The intention with this project is to have an ongoing dialogue together connected to community, healing and public space. It is my intention to expand this project into other alleys and areas of Montreal. You are absolutely encouraged to participate in answering the questions if you are not a Montrealer, reflecting on the space you live in and your relationship to it in the past year.

Note: You can of course experience this project only via the website as well!

See more data from the alley and walks