Diane Borsato – The Photograph as Document
© Diane Borsato - Italian Lessons, 2009-2011
Mois de la Photo is in full swing. For the next month, Montreal is hosting some stellar exhibits and artists. I’ve had the chance to see some of the exhibits and attend some the artist talks and looking forward to the upcoming events. Last week I caught Diane Borsato‘s talk at Concordia University and was swept away, not necessarily by the work itself although I do very much enjoy it, but by Borsato herself, as a person, an artist and the methodology of her work.
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The Dead in Photographs
Unknown photographer. Found in Maine, U.S.A
Rummaging through flea markets this summer, I came upon the portrait of the child above. The picture is a tintype, which was most likely taken in the mid to late 1800s (c.1850 to 1880s). To have a child sitting this still, with such clarity and no movement in the eyes could only mean that the child, at the time when the photograph was taken, was deceased.
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Ian Wallace
© Ian Wallace, The Wall, Gandia II, 2009. Courtesy Yvon Lambert Gallery, Paris / New York.
Ian Wallace, an artist and art historian, has been producing, teaching and leading the contemporary photographic art scene in Canada since the late 1960s. I only came across Wallace’s work last year when visiting the National Gallery of Ottawa. The image above was my introduction to his work and this past May Wallace was exhibited in Montreal’s biennale. I was excited to see a full room of his work.
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The arts? Who needs that?
In the past couple of months there has been discussions in the media about art, artists and the funding that artists receive for their projects. Funding for the arts and culture related projects have been an ongoing debate for a while now but it seems that recently there has been more attention to the subject.
With the Conservative party having a majority for the next four years, the artists and culture related associations will and have already felt the cut backs in funding and support from the government. At the beginning of May, after the elections, there was a short article in Le Journal de Montreal by Nathalie Elgrably-Levy (article in French) questioning the funding for the arts and asking if artists should even be allowed to complain that there are cutbacks. The article is a very black and white look on the industry and what artists do. Following this article was a quite elaborate and intelligent counter reaction by Simon Jodoin from Voir (article in French).
Even if I don’t necessarily agree with Elgrably-Levy’s article, essentially because of how she approaches the subject and the tone of the article, I do think that it’s healthy to have questions raised and to have a healthy debate, like Jodoin’s counter article. What made me really irritated, and the reason why I’m writing this post, was an interview done with Margie Gillis, a prolific dancer-choreographer in Canada, at the beginning of the month by Sun News. Essentially the anchor Krista Erickson, takes the 20-minute interview to not only disrespect an artist that has worked for the past 40 years but also ridicules the entire art industry.
According to Erickson, the artists are simply benefiting from and taking the taxpayers money. I had difficulty watching the entire interview because it was uncomfortable to watch this anchor be completely ignorant, aggressive, disrespectful, who didn’t even care to discuss but rather judge and bully her interviewee. She even, somehow managed to compare the death of 150 soldiers with Gillis’ work on stage. I was blown away to see how well Gillis handled the interview and tried so calmly to answer the questions and tried to partake in a discussion. The most fitting line of this interview was at the complete end, while Erickson is cutting Gillis off again, Gillis smiles and says “how strange?” An article by Stéphane Baillargeon from Le Devoir counters this interview and a humorous, witty spin at the awful spectacle is an article by John Doyle in the Globe and Mail. If you want to understand the numbers, taxpayers money and the income of the art industry read Louis Laberge-Côté’s article.
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Krystel Marois – Partir
© Krystel Marois - Barque, 2009
I was briefly introduced to Krystel Marois‘ work last year and have recently been reminded of her. The series posted here is titled Partir.
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