Slightly Lucid » Events

Paper, Rock, Scissors: The Constructed Image in New British Photography Exhibit

Aislinn Leggett — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 21:19:54 +0000

Diane Smyth and Simon Bainbridge from the British Journal of Photography, curated the exhibit Paper, Rock, Scissors: The Constructed Image in New British Photography at the Flash Forward Festival, which was one of my favorite exhibits featured at the festival. It was a small show, featuring six artists: Peter Ainsworth, Julia Curtin, Noemi Goudal, Danny Treacy, Julie Cockburn and Victoria Jenkins, but made for a tight and concise exhibit.

The exhibit “…examines the new trend for constructed imagery in British photography, whose fluid approach to subject and media marks a sharp contrast to a previous generation more concerned with the documentary idiom. Using collage, set design, installation and costume, their work presents an alternative reality that owes as much to fiction as fact.” (from the Magenta Flash Forward website) This method is not new, Jeff Wall for example has been exploring this notion of blurring fact and fiction since the late 1970s. What I find important with the continuation of scrutinizing the boundaries of fact and fiction, is that it permits artists to continually explore and question the medium, allowing photography to not become stagnant. Different ways of seeing, interpreting stories, scenes and social interactions creates new visual language and an interesting way to approach photography as a viewer.

As a photographer questioning his/her position within the medium and being aware of themselves taking or creating the photograph, I believe comes through in the final image, where then the viewer is challenged to read and interpret the image. There is an over saturation of imagery in our daily life and I think it is up to the visual artists to create an interesting and vibrant language, to entice and have viewers interact and even question the image.

“…many of the emerging artists of this new generation are questioning of the role of photography itself, challenging its generic hierarchies and its supposed lexicon of truth. Now that photography has become such an integral part of everyday reality, they have a more critical take on the medium, and in the context of digital culture, they’re probing the meaning of photography itself.” (from the Magenta Flash Forward website) The choices of artists picked for the exhibit demonstrates the ability of the photographic medium, the sensibility of context and investigation. The images draw the viewers closer to allow a discussion but what is also successful is that there is room to question and reflect.

Flash Forward 2010 Group show exhibit

Aislinn Leggett — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 02:57:22 +0000

I attended the first Magenta Flash Forward Festival in Toronto this past week (to see what it was all about and to pick up the book, which I was included in!) and had a really great time. The festival kicked off Wednesday with the opening of the Flash Forward 2010 Group Show Featured Exhibit, unfortunately I couldn’t make it to this opening, but I heard it was a really great turn out. I did though, get a chance to visit the exhibit while I was there. There are some photographers that I have already mentioned, at some point, on the blog that were included in the show, Tribble and Macenido and Renhui Zhao but there were many new discoveries, which I’m posting a few of my favorites here: Andrew B. Myers, Magda Biernat, Peter Ainsworth and Becky Comber.

The exhibit was curated by MaryAnn Camilleri, the founder of The Magenta Foundation, Myrabelle Charlebois, photo editor of enRoute Magazine and Aaron Schuman photographer and founder of SeeSaw Magazine. Since the past six years of the Flash Forward contest/exhibit, I’ve never been able to attend an opening so I can’t compare to past years, (I’ve missed the opening again this year but at least I got to see the exhibit!) but all in all the photographers featured, the space and the presentation was slick. There a lot of photographers up on the wall and it is a packed show. There’s no real theme to the exhibit but more of an eye-candy type of feeling and something for everybody’s taste. (From the festival website) “…showcasing the best emerging photographers from Canada, the USA and the UK. Each year, after a call for entry to emerging photographers, curators from each of the participating countries review the submitted work and identify those young people that they believe show great promise as professional fine art or documentary photographers.” The unity of the exhibit, considering the diversity of the photography, was nice and exciting to walk through.

Daniel Cooney Emerging Artists Auction

Aislinn Leggett — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:28:50 +0000

Daniel Cooney‘s Emerging Artists Auction has been up for the past couple of weeks featuring some really interesting artists. But it’s not up for long, there’s exactly 1 day and 1 hour to go – finishing on February 4th. So get them while they’re there! Works that caught my eye were Alexander Binder, Brea Souders, M. Scott Brauer, Jake Stangel, Dalton Rooney and you can find one of my prints there as well. Get bidding!

Auctions for Haiti Relief

Aislinn Leggett — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:31:13 +0000

If you still haven’t donated for Haiti relief or would like to give more, here are a few auctions that are offering great photography from talented photographers. A good time to get some nice work on the walls while donating to people who desperately need the help. Montreal’s Kate Hutchinson is participating in the Haiti Relief Benefit Print Sale and you can find Anouk Kruithof and Helen Van Meene‘s work at the Photo Q auction.

If you are in Montreal this Wednesday, February 3rd, stop by Shoot Studio to place a bid on some slick photography. There is a long list of Montreal talent to be picked up at Les Tremblements silent auction. There’s an array of styles including Carlos and Jason Sanchez, Benoit Aquin, Sara A. Tremblay, Sylvain Dumais, Simon Duhamel and myself. The money collected will go to the Center for International Studies and Cooperation a not-for-profit organization based in Montreal.

Virgilio Ferreira – Daily Pilgrims

Aislinn Leggett — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:54:57 +0000

I found Virgilio Ferreira’s work while browsing the artist archives of the Polish photography festival, Fotofestiwal. This series Daily Pilgrims is a really fascinating way of combing portrait with urban landscape. Ferreira’s intuitive way of capturing people and city has an unusual tourist feel and at the same time an interesting exploration of space and body.

Fotofestiwal has a list of extremely talented photographers, the festival will be on in May and they still have a call for submission – but not for long. Looking forward to seeing next’s years photographers.

Mois de la Photo – Les Ateliers Jean Brillant

Aislinn Leggett — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:31:32 +0000

I’ve been really enjoying the exhibitions going on during Le Mois de la Photo in Montreal. The festival is in it’s 11th edition and is taking place between September 10th and October 11th 2009. This year’s theme is: The Spaces of the Image.

Last Thursday night was the inauguration of the event at Les Ateliers Jean Brillant, a kind of garage-like building, a very fun space in St-Henri (an up and coming artist district in Montreal). There were people everywhere spilling out onto the street. I stayed awhile and as the crowd dispersed I had a chance to enjoy the work.

Opening of Mois de la Photo at Les Ateliers Jean Brillant, 2009

Opening of Le Mois de la Photo at Les Ateliers Jean Brillant, 2009. Installation by Pierre Tremblay.

There were a half dozen artist making up this show but the ones that really stood out for me were Yang Zhenzhong and Pierre Tremblay.

Yang Zhenzhong, a visual artist from China, has his video installation “Let’s Puff (2002)” on display. The projection is a double screen: on one side, a young woman breathes in/out and opposite to her, a projection displays a metropolitan street scene of Shanghai. As the woman breathes harder, the street scene moves more rapidly, speeding up the pace of the pedestrians and cars. As she gathers her breathing, the street scene returns to normal speed. Her breath seems to travel across the room to the projection in front of her, pushing the people and objects as they were the flames of birthday candles not wanting to be extinguished. With this piece, Yang Zhenzhong’s looks at the ramped numbers of people migrating to urban centers and the rapid modernization that encompasses the cities in China.

Pierre Tremblay, a Quebec/Ontario based artist, is exhibiting his “Dernière soirée de l’été – Oonagh – les Grands lacs (2008)” This installation plays with a hologram effect. Working with a series of portraits of his daughter dancing, Tremblay has created a lovely sequence of movement. To view the piece, the viewer must walk along the panoramic installation. This is a dance, which is not only created by the daughter and Tremblay but also makes the viewer a dancer as well. While at the opening event, I watched people observing the installation and both the piece and the viewers became one installation. It made the people move, step back, step forward, bend, lean and sway. The interaction was almost as interesting as the installation.

The show is up until October 11th and Les Ateliers Jean Brillant, 3350 Saint-Jacques Ouest in Montreal.

George Zimbel Exhibit

Aislinn Leggett — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:25:22 +0000

©George Zimbel

If you are in the Montreal area tomorrow be sure to catch George Zimbel’s vernissage at the Opus Hotel. The exhibit of his New Orleans work is on now and will be up till July 26. This is one not to be missed.

Yousuf Karsh at the Library and Archives Canada

Aislinn Leggett — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:01:32 +0000

Festival Karsh Ottawa 2009

Last weekend I was in Ottawa for the Karsh Festival and I was told that if you could only check out one show, Sounds and Vision: Portraits of Musicians and Composers by Yousuf Karsh, is the one to see. The exhibit opens tonight Monday June 15 at the Library and Archives Canada, so if you are in Ottawa or the surrounding area, I think it is going to be a very impressive event. There will be live music and rumor is, Glenn Gould‘s piano will be played!

Marco Antonio Cruz – Grange prize winner

Aislinn Leggett — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:18:42 +0000

This years winner of the Grange prize, $50 000 award, is Marco Antonio Cruz. This news is old news since the announcement of the winner was at the end of May, but regardless I thought this should be up here since I posted about the contest when it first started. My favorites were a toss between Cruz and Lynne Cohen, so I am happy to see that Cruz’s essay on the blind in Mexico won the audience over. His essay is very touching and eloquently done. If you haven’t seen his work yet, check out his new web site.

SlideShow Night – Edition 1

Aislinn Leggett — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 17:28:19 +0000

Last night was the beginning of Slightly Lucid SlideShow Nights. I had the pleasure of hosting and sharing the evening with some pretty awesome people. We each showed 8 images of work that was either a completed project or work in progress. The goal was to get feedback, to ask questions, to put into prospective new work or to simply show work. Mainly the point of the evening was to get like-minded people together to share and discuss photography. And I think it was a success.

The photographers of the night were Kate Hutchinson, Nancy Kendle, Annie-Ève Dumontier, Neal Hardie, Velibor Bozovic and Louis Perreault. We took the time to discuss, question and reflect on each others images, making for some really nice insight on the different works and projects. And what a variant of works projected!

I think this is a start of something really interesting. Hopefully we can keep this going for a while and evolve these evenings by adding new photographers to the list.