Histoires d’Invincibles is an exhibition based on an original idea by author Chilandre Patry and illustrator Maxime Saint-Juste. It highlights significant figures that visitors can identify and know more about to tackle the lack of representation. The project aims to provide children, families, and schools in Quebec with an educational experience to enhance their imagination through inspiring stories.
It’s designed for all ages and offers an engaging approach to raise visitors’ awareness of African descent people’s contributions to world history.
The project idea came from the first COVID-19 lockdown, when Saint-Juste began sharing drawings of characters to colour—to keep his children busy.
The success he got on social media led to this initiative, aimed at combining education and fun.
“We wanted to highlight often forgotten historical figures and create captivating stories with an international dimension and a great diversity of Black figures,” Patry said in a press release.
Independent curator Milady Hartmann created the exhibition’s scenography by making dolls and their textile details
She wants people to feel a positive effect after seeing the exhibition.
“So when children come in, they’re captivated,” Hartmann said. “And you want to give them eye candy for memory so that they are able to say, Oh, I remember this. This character, I want to do research. I want to be this person, or I want to find out more about this because there’s something about the way that they were constructed or illustrated that really hones in on something that’s personal.”
The eleven Afro-descendant figures, such as Yaa Asantewaa, the warrior queen of Ghana; Herbert Henry Carnegie, a pioneer of Canadian hockey; and Viola Irene Demond, an icon of the fight against segregation in Canada, are honoured in the exhibition.
“You’re doing history because you’re going to fact-find, and you want to come back to your audience. Say, this is what I found. These are the facts. This is the story,” she said. “And here it is. And we present it in a digestible way that the audience is intrigued. They’re educated. . . They walk out amazed. At least that’s the goal.”
She explained that she created dolls because sometimes, when people don’t humanize the prominent figures they’re talking about, children don’t relate to them.
“My goal is that we have more shows like this. My goal is to present more shows, more events, and more curated exhibits that I would like to do in the future, and I hope that museums and galleries come in and see [them] and they’re in awe and they want to have this type of exhibit in their space,” Hartmann said.
The exhibition runs from June 3 to July 20, 2025 at Place des Arts – Exhibition Hall.
HISTOIRES D’INVINCIBLES: An Exhibition Highlighting Eleven Afro-Descendant Legacies
