A Walk With One of Montreal’s Exterior Decorators

Video journalist Jesse Freeston follows community activist and artist Stefan Christoff on his route postering political massages and art in the Montreal neighbourhood of Plateau Mont-Royal. Christoff is a musician, organizer, activist and student. In his organizing, he is a community for the Immigrant Workers Centre located in Snowdon, Montreal.

They start their route with Christoff postering a photo of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African-American boy who was killed by George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old man in Stanford, Florida in February 2012. Zimmerman was charged with murder, but was acquitted as a result of declaring self defence. 

The trial was widely reported on and created the start of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in July 2013, after BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors tweeted the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter following Zimmerman's acquittal. 

Chistoff wants to highlight of the creation of this movement, saying it's important we "remember the names, and say the names" of those who were killed due to racial profiling and systemic racism.

Christoff takes us though his method of prepping and pasting the posters on exterior walls, including finding the perfect surface, posting in a good temperature and putting on enough paste to make the poster stick. He says the importance of street art is to show that our streets are not owned by corporations, which are very present on our streets among the many advertisements we can see plastered everywhere. Instead, art and political messages bring a presence to social movements to our streets.

He also posts posters of Joyce Echaquan, "Make All CHSLD's Fully Public" and an art piece of a wolf made by his friend. Christoff also discusses the grey area in the legality of street art and freedom of expression in a public space.