I’ve arrived early for the press presentation of the spring/summer 2025 program at PHI, and I’m hanging around adjusting my camera as artist Nico Williams and curator Daniel Fiset talk in hushed tones, also a little early. They’re talking about the work at the entrance to the show, not by Nico but by an artist who is part of his community of collaborators. I hear oh my God and that’s a shit ton of gold and, as I’m about to discover, Nico’s energy and his work breathe the spirit of community, kinship, family and tradition modernized and re-mythologized. His solo show is like a nostalgic stroll through a sun-drenched courtyard in midsummer.
The second spring exhibition is a double-installation by artist Lap-See Lam, entitled Théâtre d’Ombres , in which she presents two video works exploring the theme of memory, migration and the transmission of myths through an imaginary narrative told in the style of shadow theater.
PHI’s two exhibitions this season mythologize the past and present with a bittersweet look at memory, legend and community storytelling.
NICO WILLIAMS: Bingo
The solo show by Nico Williams, who has been beading for 11 years, mixes older works with those created for this exhibition. The artist, who often works in collaboration with anyone who wants to come and bead in his Hochelaga studio, presents a body of work rooted in a desire for aboriginal sovereignty, anti-colonialism and a deep love of the aboriginal community (he is a member of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation (Anishinaabe), but works with and presents the work of artists from other aboriginal nations).
His work, incredibly meticulous and sophisticated, crystallises a kind of native Proust’s madeleines through everyday objects; bingo cards like those from Kahnawake’s bingo night , a poster from his grandmother’s house, a wallet he refers to as a kind of self-portrait…
While these beaded objects are, from a distance, as pretty and sparkly as the elements of a human-sized dollhouse, they each have a rich story to tell about the aboriginal community, which unabashedly calls for sovereignty and #landback.
For his three Friendship in Trade works, beaded bandanas, he used Venetian seed beads that he bought in Murano, in deadstock – seed beads are no longer made by hand, they’re the last ones in existence. These beads, which arrived in Aboriginal communities through trade and exchange between settlers and First Nations, have been transformed into an extremely rich and multifaceted Aboriginal art craft (beading). Nico describes it as a “beautiful story. Dark, too.”
We’ll let you discover the rest of the exhibition without spoilers, but we must also mention the installation Pawn Stars (2024-2025) , where Nico has created a sort of pawn shop of objects that recount his discovery of his culture as a child and continually (and objects of exploitation of Aboriginal culture, such as an extract from the film Pocahontas and VHS of films with Aboriginal characters, in beadwork) and beadwork by other Aboriginal artists; a cigarette, an“indian watch”, a field hockey stick…
The exhibition is sparkly and so is Nico, and leaves one with the impression of having seen, crystallised, a modern snapshot -almost domesticated- deeply rooted in heritage, the legends told around heritage, and incredibly alive.
LAP-SEE LAM: Shadow Theatre
Lap-See Lam’s exhibition, a double-installation presented by the Vega Foundation, features two dark rooms separated by curtains: Tales of the Aftersea (2023 ) and Floating Sea Palace (2024).
The two installations respond to each other, albeit in very different ways, with a nostalgic poetry for a system of semi-imagined myths and legends inspired by Cantonese folklore.
At the center of the exhibition is the Sea Palace – a floating restaurant in a dragon boat that opened in Shanghai in 1990 and, losing customers, ended up moored in Stockholm and host to a haunted house before becoming a ghost ship.
Floating Sea Palace (2024) is a video installation that re-imagines the myth of Lo Ting, a legendary half-man, half-fish character, with elements of shadow theater and Cantonese opera. The looped narrative recounts a nostalgia for the concept of home, belonging and continuous transformation.
Tales of the Aftersea (2023), an immersive installation that transforms a darkened room into a digitized Chinese lantern, presents an imagined narrative fragmented by video that draws on the history of the Sea Palace and a patchwork folklore of shadows.
Lap-See Lam’s work creates a founding myth based on nostalgia and a gentle, almost childlike melancholy for a world that probably never existed, full of ghosts and shadow-theater characters.
The beauty of his work, which is very pleasant to inhabit, if only for thirty minutes or so, creates a modern myth crystallized in a complex system of folklore – there’s even a table, between the two installations, listing the characters who inhabit the world of Lap-See…
Practical info
PHI is the new name for the Centre PHI and the Fondation PHI pour l’art contemporain, and the three exhibition spaces are now unified under a single identity.
The ticketing model, which until now has been free (with compulsory reservation), is now flexible. Some exhibitions will remain free, such as Jean-Marc Vallée: Mixtape which can be seen until early July.
Where do we go?
NICO WILLIAMS: Bingo is at 451 rue Saint-Jean
LAP-SEE LAM: Théâtre d’ombres is at 465 rue Saint-Jean.
Where?
April 25 to September 14, 2025
How much?
valid for both exhibitions – regular, $20/reduced, $16/mild, $10/solidarity, $30
For more info and to get your tickets in advance, click here!
Enjoy your visit!