As a child, Shenaz wandered Mahaica Market with her mother shopping for the weeks groceries. As an adult and as a filmmaker, she wanted to capture her childhood memories and archive the vendors at the market. For Shenaz, recording her trip back to her childhood community on super 8 had less to do with being Guyanese and more to do with creating an aesthetic look as a filmmaker and an artist.
Super 8
A video recording from 2005 consisting of employees at their desks working and drinking beers. Recording also features the CN tower with cranes and construction of Liberty Village in the foreground. Project and donor(s) contributed description follows: “Liberty Village in 2005 was a rapidly changing place, and Shenaz Baksh, equipped with a brand new Super 8 camera decided to document it. The community had changed so much and by the brief shots of construction seen outside her office window, would only continue to change more. This gave Shenaz all the more reason to archive her workplace of five years. Nearing 15 years later, Shenaz’s coworkers marvelled less at how spaces change over time, like Shenaz had intentioned, but more at their youthful appearances.”
A video clip recording from 1976 to 1978 consisting of a party with adults and children dancing, footage of and from the top of the CN tower, a child playing around the house and pool, and a child playing with a soccer ball wearing a 1978 Argentina Championship t-shirt. Project and donor(s) contributed description follows: “These clips show episodes from Jean-Pierre Marchant’s childhood in the mid-1970s Montreal. His parents were immigrants, recently arrived from Argentina and Chile. Throughout Jean-Pierre’s childhood, they documented the family’s life with a Super 8 camera (and would later switch to video). These clips depict him as a playful child, trips, and well-attended birthday parties. Looking back, Jean-Pierre recognizes that these parties were a big opportunity for the adults to get together and celebrate. The Marchants mostly socialized with people from similar backgrounds, and Jean-Pierre says that ‘it was important for my parents, who were trying to make a life in a new place, to associate with others who spoke their language’.”
A video clip recording from 1976 to 1978 consisting of a party with adults and children dancing, footage of and from the top of the CN tower, a child playing around the house and pool, and a child playing with a soccer ball wearing a 1978 Argentina Championship t-shirt. Project and donor(s) contributed description follows: “These clips show episodes from Jean-Pierre Marchant’s childhood in the mid-1970s Montreal. His parents were immigrants, recently arrived from Argentina and Chile. Throughout Jean-Pierre’s childhood, they documented the family’s life with a Super 8 camera (and would later switch to video). These clips depict him as a playful child, trips, and well-attended birthday parties. Looking back, Jean-Pierre recognizes that these parties were a big opportunity for the adults to get together and celebrate. The Marchants mostly socialized with people from similar backgrounds, and Jean-Pierre says that ‘it was important for my parents, who were trying to make a life in a new place, to associate with others who spoke their language’.”
A video clip recording from 1976 primarily featuring a child playing in his house and park; the first third of the clip consists of urban and rural landscapes. Project and donor(s) contributed description follows: “Jean-Pierre Marchant’s parents immigrated from South America in the early 1970s before he was born. His mother is from Argentina and his father is from Chile. Jean-Pierre was born in Vieux-Rosemont, Montreal, and spent the first year of his life there before they all moved to (what was then) the suburbs in Saint-Hubert, Longueuil, about 14 km from downtown Montreal. Jean-Pierre recalls day trips with his parents to the United States and Toronto. On this day, the family captures the roads and cityscapes of New Hampshire.”
“Project and donor(s) contributed description follows: “These clips show episodes from Jean-Pierre Marchant’s childhood in the mid-1970s Montreal. His parents were immigrants, recently arrived from Argentina and Chile. Throughout Jean-Pierre’s childhood, they documented the family’s life with a Super 8 camera (and would later switch to video). These clips depict him as a playful child, trips, and well-attended birthday parties. Looking back, Jean-Pierre recognizes that these parties were a big opportunity for the adults to get together and celebrate. The Marchants mostly socialized with people from similar backgrounds, and Jean-Pierre says that “it was important for my parents, who were trying to make a life in a new place, to associate with others who spoke their language.””