Remnants

On Saint-Catherine Street, the busiest street in the Shaughnessy village, a Canada Post drop box lines the sidewalk. Bright, but weathered, passers-by can see that its surface, once shiny and new is now adorned by old posters, their torn edges and sticky glue. The scratches left behind by hundreds of hands that have once used it, whether to send a letter or stick a poster leave me to believe that the box has been here for quite some time. It sits in perfect line with a concrete planter filled with greens— ferns, flowers, grass, and a few weeds that have invited themselves to the party. Beyond, a crooked metal pole posts parking rules. Even the sidewalk resists perfection; grass grows through its shallow cracks and trash decorates almost every street corner.

These elements, placed intentionally to control the space; the planter to bring beauty, the drop box for service, and the parking post for organization, have become part of the village’s urban composition, yet refuse to conform. Their weeds, litter, and dented metal are shaped through use.

The objects found in plain sight, even on sidewalks, are in constant conversation with their own use and practicality to the human population. While infrastructure is installed with purpose, the people who use it reshape it. On Saint-Catherine Street, human presence can be seen through the traces left behind— as a quiet performance of how we interact with the spaces around us.