The Commitment of New Montreal Artists Amid the Turmoil of 2025
As 2025 begins, Montreal vibrates with palpable tension. The streets echo with heated political debates, the economy wavers, and the future feels uncertain. And yet, in the heart of this turmoil, a light persists—the light of art.
In this city where art has always been an act of resistance, new Montreal artists refuse to be silenced by the prevailing climate. Shaken by a changing society, they transform their rage, fears, and hopes into powerful works. They create despite everything. They create because of everything.
Art as a Cry, as an Outlet
In dimly lit studios, under flickering neon lights, trembling hands draw, sculpt, paint, and reinvent reality. For many, art has become a final refuge, a place to lay down their doubts and anger.
Élodie Tremblay, an emerging illustrator, sees her work taking a more engaged turn: “I used to draw dreamlike scenes, but today, my paintings are rawer, darker. I can’t ignore what’s happening around me.”
Jules Akpan, a dancer and performer, uses his body as a poetic weapon against economic oppression: “Every movement is an act of defiance. When I dance, I want people to feel what we are going through.”
Naomi Farkas, a filmmaker, captures the unseen—the exhaustion in faces, the silent protests, the eyes filled with uncertainty. She wants art to be a witness to the present, an archive of ongoing struggles.
Survive, Create, Resist
Facing rising rent prices, growing precarity, and declining cultural funding, these artists must reinvent themselves to continue existing.
. Occupied abandoned spaces become alternative galleries.
. Social media transforms into a militant artistic platform.
. Collaborations among artists multiply, creating unprecedented solidarity.
These young creators know they cannot rely on the market, institutions, or a stable future. So they organize differently, refusing to abandon what drives them, what defines them.
Montreal: A City That Beats to the Rhythm of Its Artists
Despite everything, Montreal remains a city of artists. Even under pressure, it continues to pulse with its activist murals, impromptu concerts, and unexpected performances.
. The OFF-MTL festival, created to counter the barriers to major stages, offers a platform for independent talents.
. Urban murals appear overnight in Mile End, denouncing the housing crisis and social injustices.
. Bars and cafés transformed into clandestine exhibition spaces host voices that struggle to be heard elsewhere.
This is not a golden age for art. But it is an age of resistance.
Art as Hope: What 2025 Teaches Us
Amidst the uncertainty of this year, Montreal artists remind us that art is not a luxury but a necessity. It is the mirror of struggles, the cry of the forgotten, the resistance against erasure.
And if history teaches us anything, it’s that the darkest times give birth to the most unforgettable works.
So, to those who believe that art has no place in times of crisis, these new artists respond with one voice: art is precisely what allows us to survive.
