Born in Warsaw, Poland, Jacek Jarnuszkiewicz comes from a family of sculptors who moved to Québec in 1963. He holds a bachelor’s degree in art history and visual arts from the Université de Montréal (1978) and a master’s degree in visual arts from Concordia University (1982). He has created numerous artworks in the public space, including L’homme est un roseau pensant III (2007) in the Cartier Métro station in Laval, and Dialogue inaltérable (2009) in Burlington, Vermont.
Artwork description
Jacek Jarnuszkiewicz’s installation is set near the Lachine Canal, in a square situated between a bike path and a small building. It is composed of eight objects made of wood and stainless steel and placed on a cedar platform inlaid with strips of stainless steel. The objects refer to the activities associated with the Saint-Henri and Sainte-Cunégonde neighbourhoods: jazz, popular literature, the leather industry, timber, sea and rail transport, working-class housing, and large upper-class homes. Texts engraved on the steel strips complement and describe the installation’s eight elements. They are also linked to the neighbourhood’s history and have been taken from sources of various types, including minutes, newspaper articles, and novels.