Lilianne Schneider

Resilience

With this body of work, I aim to reflect on the division, displacement, and persecution experienced by so many communities. We live in a time when information and misinformation spreads instantly, and both the educated and the uneducated participate through action or inaction.

What troubles me most is the absence of meaningful reflection on historical events. New technologies and social media have become the primary educators of the masses, often manipulating narratives, erasing the past and re writing history.

In 1939 my father and his family were among the 20,000 Jews living in Strasbourg, Alsace France when the German occupation started, all the citizens, over 300,000 were evacuated to the south under the Treaty of Vichy, a couple of years later Alsatians were permitted to return, some did.

In January of 1942, Alsatians were declared German citizens, excluding the Alsatians they considered “undesirable,” who were either denied entry to the region after evacuation or deported to concentration camps.

When WW2 ended only about 3,000 Jews had survived on the Alsace region.

Lilianne Schneider is a self-taught photographer, born and raised in Peru living in Toronto since the late 1980s.

She is influenced by the rich experimental film scene in Toronto and her various travels abroad. They have forged her sensitivity for the environment that surrounds her. She is constantly looking for photographic subjects in the streets where society and the richness of the cultural landscape converge.

Photography opens her mind to experiment and recreate the scenes that might go unnoticed to others.

Her work has been shown by the Patrons for Arts of Peru at Toronto City Hall, at the Gallery of the Peruvian Consulate in Toronto and featured in group exhibitions at Columbus Centre (Toronto), PIX FILM Gallery, G44 365 exhibits (2018 and 2019), Low-Res show (2019) at G44, Covid-19 Portraits (2020) at Gallery 1313, Coming Home (2020) and Brave New World (2020) Group online exhibitions at Gallery 1313 and participated with Spectra group shows from 2019 to 2025.

Contact the artist directly for information on purchasing.

Contact: lilis@rogers.com
Website: lilisch.com
IG: @lilianne00

May 6th to May 17th, 2026
918 Bathurst Street, Toronto
Sun and Star Rooms

Hours: Wednesday - Sunday, 12pm to 5pm
Opening reception: Thursday May 7th from 6-9pm
Artist talk: Saturday, May 9th from 1-3pm