Pillar portrait irks Boudjikanian

News that the Turcot Interchange will soon be dismantled has come not a minute too soon for local resident Raffy Boudjikanian, whose face somehow ended up painted on a concrete pillar supporting the elevated highway just south of Westmount. “My phone began ringing a few months ago,” said Boudjikanian. “My friends were telling me that they saw my face on a piece of graffiti. I was stunned.”

The image depicts a young man wearing a gas mask, and appears to protesting pollution from the trains that pass just a few metres away — but the face is unquestionably Boudjikanian’s.

He recently checked out the pillar for himself, and still cannot believe the resemblance. “I was speechless,” he said. “My first thought was, ‘Who would do this to me?’”

Legal action is out of the question, Boudjikanian said, because it would probably be impossible to track down and identify the vandals responsible. In the meantime, all he can do is live with the notoriety and hope that the Turcot Interchange comes down sooner than later. “But, on the other hand,” he added, “it is nice to have your portrait in a public place. It’s too bad it was painted directly onto the concrete and will have to be destroyed. I would like to bring it home and hang it in my garage.”