This section regroups the AGIR art project and Temps d'AGIR publication.

The AGIR par l’imaginaire project

Initiated by the Elizabeth Fry Society of Quebec in collaboration with Engrenage Noir / LEVIER, AGIR par l'imaginaire is an artistic creation project carried out in prisons between 2007 and 2011.

It involved eight professional artists and forty-nine criminalized women - who may or may not have had artistic experience - in a collaborative creative process, using the principles of community art.

Eight multidisciplinary workshops (photo, video, self-portrait, sound, slam, song, dance and acting) were held in prisons and in Montreal-based community organizations: the Joliette Institution, the Maison Tanguay, the Philippe-Pinel Institute and the Thérèse-Casgrain House.

Thirty-five art works were created to explore the link between poverty and incarceration.

These works were presented in 2011 at the AGIR | Art of women in prison exhibition, designed by Vanesa Mazza (artistic director) at the Eastern Bloc gallery in Montreal.

This project was carried out with the financial support of Status of Women Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts, the city of Montréal, the Minister of Culture, Communications and Female Condition of Quebec and several private foundations.

For more information, visit the project's website.

Temps d’AGIR

The Temps d'agir publication is based on the AGIR par l'imaginaire art project. It contains texts written by the women involved throughout the AGIR creation process, as well as visual materials produced in prison.

Through excerpts from works and reflections, Temps d'agir bears witness to the artistic approach of incarcerated women, their reality and their creativity. Beyond speaking out, the book seeks to generate dialogue and questioning through works rich in intelligence and sensitivity, beauty and humanity, as courageous as they are fragile. The book's words and images strike and seize, while the sound creations, songs and slams of the CD allow a further step into the encounter. Temps d'agir is both a place for questioning and the imprint of a rare form of freedom of expression.

This project is an initiative of the Elizabeth Fry Society of Quebec and Engrenage Noir / LEVIER. The book-CD Temps d'agir was published by  Planète rebelle in the "Traces" collection directed by D. Kimm et Les Filles électriques in 2011. 

Available on: Leslibraires.ca, Planète Rebelle et Renaud-Bray.