photoED Magazine - #73 - MELD

#73

“THE JOB OF THE ARTIST IS ALWAYS TO DEEPEN THE MYSTERY.” — FRANCIS BACON

WALTER RAEMISCH London, Canada “Waves Off Port Stanley Pier Deconstructed”

CONTENTS 10

BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS by Brian St. Denis

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PORTFOLIO Featuring: Trina O’Hara, Sarah E. Fuller, Pavlo Fyshar, Maryam Firuzi, Rosemary Horn, Diego Fabro, Monica Rooney, Christine Germano, Zelda Zinn, and Ralph Nevins

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CHANGE MADE: MELDING CHANGE THROUGH STORYTELLING by Sid Naidu

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HANNAH MAYNARD’S GEMS by Cassandra Spires

86

21

SPAO: IF YOU BUILD IT THEY WILL COME

by Corinna vanGerwen

BENJAMIN FREEDMAN: REAL FICTIONS

by Alan Bulley

94

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EMMA NISHIMURA: STORIES, MEMORIES, HISTORIES

by Corinna vanGerwen

DUANE ISAAC: THE SURREAL

by Jesse King

102

36

CURIOSITY, WONDER, AND UNMITIGATED OPTIMISM: MARTHA DAVIS An interview with Rita Godlevskis

NATALIE HUNTER: INSTALLATIONS OF LIGHT

by Bart Gazzola

110

PREVIEW Digital edition preview

ART IN

THE E V E RY D AY

DISCOVER. PL AY.

nikon.ca

ISSUE #73 ISSN 1708-282X

EDITOR/PUBLISHER ART DIRECTOR CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

COPY EDITOR EDITORIAL ASSISTANT COVER IMAGE

Rita Godlevskis /rita@photoed.ca Ruth Alves Alan Bulley Bart Gazzola Jesse King Sid Naidu Cassandra Spires Brian St. Denis Corinna vanGerwen Deborah Cooper Marie Louise Moutafchieva From the

by Sarah E. Fuller

series,

CURATORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Tobi Asmoucha, Patricia Ellah, John Healey, Jonathan Hobin, Vicki Hoysa, Pam Lau, Peppa Martin, Eric Stewart, Mark Walton

WWW.PHOTOEDITORIAL.ART @photoedmagazine photoED Magazine is published in print 3×/year, April, September & November.

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This issue was made possible with the assistance of the Government of Canada.

From the

LORI RYERSON series, FLOWERING DOGWOOD loriryerson.ca IG: @focalocity

Hangama Amiri

Until 27 April

PARTING/

Erika DeFreitas

and that break is the one that shows (to shift, a curve, to quiver)

Thuy-Han Nguyen-Chi

The blue of the sky depends on the darkness of empty space behind it PROJECT SPACE: Megan Feniak With All Our Vernal Suns 10 February–8 June

@eskerfoundation eskerfoundation.art Erika DeFreitas, The Black Madonnas of Perpetual Murmurs 1, 2023.

Courtesy of the artist, and Christie Contemporary, Toronto.

EDITOR’S WELCOME

Photo by Margaret Mulligan

“YOU DON’T TAKE A PHOTOGRAPH, YOU MAKE IT” is a well-known Ansel Adams (1902–1984) quote that would have had a very different audience and intention given the image-making technology of his time. Adams challenged the then mainstream idea that a photograph was a document and confidently stated that the tools he used to record scenes were tools of a fine art craft rather than instruments of factual recording. Photography purists still applaud Adams’ proclamation that photography should be considered an artform; but this quote takes on a bold new meaning now, given the limitless technology options available today to creative practitioners.

From historical processes to AI, the “making of photographs” has never been a more diverse and contentious landscape. New combinations and previously unheard voices present us with truly exciting, fresh conversations.

Cameras are no longer even needed to create hyperreal images. “Photographs” are “made” every day at a rate beyond anyone’s comprehension with AI. With the volume of images being “made,” my question is “What are they saying?” What are we visually breathing in from beneath this avalanche?

This edition celebrates photo-based artists that dare to meld technologies to craft powerful creative statements.

Prolific outsider artist Martha Davis’ dioramas and greenscreen projects are vivid, quickly made sketches that demand attention and slam down really hard conversation ignitions about genuinely important topics: community, seniors, children, our environment, social justice, and more.

Natalie Hunter’s work takes a gentler approach, inviting viewers into a physical experience of quiet light and joyful colour. Her work asks us to pause and breathe as we enjoy a rare analog experience.

In the context of mainstream conversations arguing the virtues and warnings of AI, Benjamin Freedman’s work questions, and mirrors’ the Ansel Adams’ quote directly. Benjamin’s

fabricated camera-less narratives in the context of contemporary art ask us not to challenge the truth of an image (those days have passed) but present us with a new tool for storytelling our memories, and other narratives that may or may not exist.

Emma Nishimura’s multimedia works are a tribute to her family history. Her use of photographic documents in crafting intricate, delicate, beautiful pieces connects the viewer with a very real family wartime story. The images she “makes” blend her story with that of her grandmother’s.

Duane Isaac’s work combines the physical craft of mask-making with photography to present viewers with an Indigiqueer perspective that explores identity, culture, and sexuality.

All the artists in this edition share practices that are slow, complicated, and layered. Works presented in this issue offer disruptions and diversions from the high-volume digital life quips that we have gotten used to streaming endlessly on our screens.

The PORTFOLIO pages in this edition are especially exciting for us, as the artists we present here have been selected by our curatorial team from our first-ever international open call.

Looking ahead, our other editions this year will dive into MEMORY — photographs that look backwards to move us forward — and MOVEMENT, meaning community, momentum, and motion. If your work resonates with these ideas, find out more about making a submission on our website.

Follow us on Instagram, Patreon, and Facebook, and sign up for our e-newsletter to keep up with all of our adventures!

Your editor, Rita Godlevskis

Did someone say meld?

Any Vulcan can tell you that a mind meld isn’t just a passkey into consciousness. It’s also the way great ideas combine. If you’re thinking about merging vintage visual techniques with current social issues, we can get you started. Check out any of the Photographic Historical Society of Canada’s pre-owned equipment auctions and fairs. Consult our website for times and locations.

www.phsc.ca

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NEW DIRECTIONS RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE CONTACT PHOTOGRAPHY FESTIVAL + PHOTOBOOK LAB

BY BRIAN ST. DENIS

BOOK OF LIGHT

by Aaron Friend Lettner

Self-publishing imprint Dædu “makes unusual books” — a thought that might’ve already crossed your mind if you were looking for a spine, pages, or even a cover to this unique title. Culled from 4,000 negatives, Book of Light is actually a photographic card deck based on the Tarot, allowing the reader to endlessly shuffle the book’s 78 images and change its meaning and structure.

With a booklet included that gives context to each image, you can offer Tarot readings to entertain your friends and familiars — or perhaps to predict their future.

2024, 78 cards + 56-page booklet $65 + shipping Dædu Books contactphotobooklab.com

SOUVENIR SERIES

CONTRE-JOUR

by Eric Franciso

by Josée Pedneault

The defining way of sharing one’s travel photos in this era is not by printed albums or postcards, but through the ubiquitous Instagram dump. What a pleasure it is then to encounter a clever photozine that doubles as a memento of the artist’s travels.

As much a calendar as it is a book: this photographic object represents a finite period of time. The results of an experiment carried out in Japan, Josée exposed photograms to sunlight over the duration of her 75-day trip. The joy of this unique book comes from the accumulation of images as you look through it, noticing subtle changes in colour and shape to Rorschach-like photograms, punctuated by her images of cherry blossoms to represent the cycle of day to night. You’ll be tempted to look through it as a flipbook!

Packaged in an envelope ready to mail to a friend (or to keep for ones self!), each edition comes with a risograph zine and four postcards from one place or day of travel. With two travelogues published to date through Reflex Editions, a Torontobased DIY publishing collective, we’re excited to see where Eric heads next.

2023, 64 pages $35 + shipping Reflex Editions contactphotobooklab.com

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2022, 208 pages $55 + shipping Free Pony Press contactphotobooklab.com

Promoting Contemporary Visual Arts Since 1988

PURE INSPIRATION – COMPOSITES

by Malin Fabbri

From the folks at AlternativePhotography.com, this book is a collection that encourages experimentation, showcasing stunning artworks that blend multiple techniques. Whether you’re a seasoned artist or a newcomer, this book will inspire you to explore alternative photography techniques and unleash your creativity.

2024, 110 pages Downloadable PDF, $20; hard cover, $56.

AlternativePhotography.com

CAMERON D E V E L O P M E N T C O R P O R AT I O N

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THE WORLD IS WAITING

Get outside with the complete line of Think Tank camera bags and accessories

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www.thinktankphoto.ca 12 photoED

BackLight Elite 45L Photo Credit: Dan Carr

CHANGE MADE: A NEW CHAPTER OF MELDING CHANGE THROUGH STORYTELLING

BY SID NAIDU AS A PHOTOJOURNALIST with an international development background, I’ve always been drawn to documenting stories in communities with complex narratives. Much of that personal interest stems from growing up in Scarborough, the heart of Toronto’s East. Growing up here showed me how communities that have traditionally been underserved are also the exact places where resilience thrives.

These teachings pushed me to embark on a decade-long journey exploring the arts as a tool for creating change in marginalized spaces around the world. It’s a journey that brought me back home to bring Scarborough Made (SM) to life five years ago.

SM allowed us to shift the mainstream narrative of how traditional media reported on our communities. It was a much-needed social impact catalyst that championed documentary storytelling in the East End. We produced numerous mixed-media installations and provided mentorship and employment to the next generation of lens-based creators.

TOP: The Change Made installation at the Scarborough Historical Museum at Thomson Memorial Park in Scarborough, Ontario, in November, 2024.

ABOVE: CM founder Sid Naidu. Photo by Ferdinand Orlain.

Doing this work from and for my hometown gave me important and impactful learnings about cultivating grassroots organizations, pushing me deeper into my purpose as a documentarian for change. photoED 13

Nikita Goutam interviews Ellie Henry, Indigenous Patient Navigator at the Scarborough Health Network, at Scarborough General Hospital.

Photo by Ziyaad Haniff.

To build on the collective work started by SM, I founded Change Made (CM) independently to address the more profound challenges and inequities I saw working across different communities, from Scarborough to the world.

Adorning two sections of the local museum are large-scale banners featuring portraits produced by BIPOC youth artists and images from my archives highlighting people making positive change in the community.

CM expands on SM’s blueprint by melding my work as a creative changemaker with establishing a new knowledge-building platform for social change.

Two contributing youth artists, Nikita Goutam and Ella Saini, joined CM through last year’s SM programming.

CM has a multifaceted purpose, including capacity building in underserved neighbourhoods and strengthening Canada’s creative economy through skills development for BIPOC youth in media.

At the heart of this new work is the creation of a production house and independent media outlet pursuing solutions journalism as a way to amplify reporting on localized change and sustainable development.

If communities could learn from one another on different social impact solutions, we could collectively see more change for the better.

To build a proof of concept, we merged seed funding and the SM and CM teams to expand our mentorship programming in Scarborough. For me, it was essential that before we started building in other communities, a presence for CM should be established in Scarborough as a home base.

We officially launched in November 2024 and brought the first set of CM stories to life at the Scarborough Historical Museum. This institutional space became a canvas for change through storytelling.

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NIKITA GOUTAM lives in the vicinity of the Scarborough Historical Museum and has cultivated her work in photography from an early age, even before she studied and got a degree in photography.

Nikita wanted to work in the documentary space, which is why she felt CM was a good fit for her. She pitched us a story with which she had a strong connection: photographing Ellie Henry, an Indigenous Patient Navigator from the Scarborough Health Network.

“Ellie’s work hit home for me because I am part Indigenous,” says Nikita. “It really honed in so much to myself and my mom as well.” Nikita took the story to heart because she doesn’t see a lot of productions documenting Indigenous people.

This was Nikita’s first public art installation. It confirmed that she was exactly where she needed to be and that she was on the right path in her pursuit of documentary photography.

Nikita shares, “CM made me realize that my photos can have an impact. I want more people to talk about this in a more positive light. It brings the community together, but also raises more questions, which I really like.”

“CM made me realize that my photos can have an impact. I want more people to talk about this in a more positive light.

It brings the community together, but also raises more questions, which I really like.”

— Nikita Goutam

LEFT: Nikita Goutam. Photo by Alicia Reid.

RIGHT: Ellie Henry, Indigenous Patient Navigator at the Scarborough Health Network, poses for a portrait in her office at Scarborough General Hospital. Photo by Nikita Goutam.

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Ella Saini interviews Krissan Veerasingam of the Scarborough Environmental Association at Thomson Memorial Park in Scarborough.

Photo by Sid Naidu.

ELLA SAINI is an emerging filmmaker based in Scarborough.

Growing up in the East End, Ella was always drawn to social justice work, as she noticed the contrasting socioeconomic differences between communities.

The inaugural CM installation is live at the Scarborough Historical Museum until March 2025 for Sustainable Development Week while I build the foundation and presence for CM to take on new initiatives.

Coming from the filmmaking space, where she produced short documentaries and worked on sets as a production assistant, she sought more opportunities to grow her work locally. She says, “I really wanted to work with other artists and changemakers here because I wanted to connect further with my community.”

Setting this foundation means growing our partnerships and fundraising to build a team with more contributors, from journalists to photographers and filmmakers, to expand solutionsdriven storytelling into other neighbourhoods across Toronto and beyond.

For this project, Ella photographed Krissan Veerasingam, cofounder of the Scarborough Environmental Association. She had followed this organization online and was inspired by its work. CM allowed Ella to understand workflows during production from pre- to post-production.

I’m now working to establish CM as a social enterprise studio and non-profit media network that can become a resource for underserved communities worldwide. I am currently focused on telling the stories of organizations and people who have created innovative solutions to strengthen their communities and the world around them.

Ella shares, “Through each step of the production process, I learned so much about myself, what I need in those moments, and what to expect from people I work with. CM came at the right time for me because I was losing a bit of confidence being on set and steering my own projects, so having the opportunity to work on this project and lead my story — with guidance — was something I felt I needed.”

Many of the youth artists I’ve mentored in these projects grow to take on independent work as creatives and pursue their passions for storytelling. Much like my own path which started in Scarborough, my work has evolved and led me to this new chapter of building social impact through the arts.

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If you’re reading this and want to support us, follow us on social media for updates and subscribe to our email newsletter to get our freshly produced good news stories directly in your inbox. We warmly welcome new partners, sponsors, and anyone that is up for supporting storytelling for positive change.

For more information about this project, please visit: Changemade.co IG: @thechangemade

“CM came at the right time for me because I was losing a bit of confidence being on set and steering my own projects, so having the opportunity to work on this project and lead my story — with guidance — was something I felt I needed.”

— Ella Saini

Caption here Caption here Caption here Caption here

TOP LEFT: Youth artist Ella Saini. Photo by Alicia Reid.

TOP RIGHT + ABOVE: Krissan Veerasingam of the Scarborough Environmental Association poses for his portrait shot at Thomson Memorial Park in Scarborough. photoED 17

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HANNAH MAYNARD’S

Gems

BY CASSANDRA SPIRES

THIS PHOTOMONTAGE is an early entry in Hannah Maynard’s Gems of British Columbia series, which showcases the remarkable creativity and innovation the photographer is known for today. Hannah Hatherly Maynard (1834 – 1918) was one of the first professional female photographers in Canada, owning and operating a portrait studio in Victoria, British Columbia, for 50 years.

Hannah Hatherly was born in Cornwall, England, and emigrated to Canada with her husband, Richard Maynard (1832 – 1907), in 1853 at around 19 years of age. The pair lived in Bowmanville, Ontario (then Canada West), where it’s believed Hannah learned photography from R & H O’Hara Photographers. They moved to Victoria in 1862 where they would settle for life and where Hannah opened Mrs. R. Maynard’s Photographic Gallery. In addition to her standard studio portraiture, she became the official photographer for the Victoria police and worked for the government producing ethnographic portraits. Hannah retired in 1912 and died in 1918 at the age of 84.

Hannah became widely recognized for her annual Gems series with which she promoted her studio, releasing a photomontage each year from 1881 to 1895. The photomontages featured children that she had photographed that year and were sent out in the form of New Year’s greeting cards to parents of the children. The Gems series was inspired by the fashionable but brief trend in photography known as gems – very small tintypes able to be mounted to jewellery. To create her Gems series, Hannah meticulously cut out and mounted photographs of the children before rephotographing as a whole. The montages often took on the shapes of other objects, including potted plants, wreaths and, as seen here, a painter’s palette.

Hannah Maynard–expert Claire Weissman Wilks points out the theme of grief hidden in the compositions, with many of the Gems featuring ghostly apparitions. For example, this 1884 Gems photomontage features two young girls on either side of the montage who appear otherworldly and statuesque. The child on the left is smiling and holding a bird, while the child on the right is crying, holding a dead bird. This is an early example of Hannah’s practice of what she called “living statuaries”: sitters she made to look like statues through the use of white powder and clever positioning. Grief is a common theme throughout Hannah’s work; a mother of five, she lost the first of two children the year prior to this particular composition.

Hannah’s experiments with pushing the boundaries of storytelling through photography went further technically and creatively than many of her contemporaries, and predecessors. Although many passionate female photography experts and advocates continue to promote Hannah’s work in contemporary art and education contexts, her superior work remains underappreciated.

The BC Archives at the Royal BC Museum in Victoria holds a large collection of Hannah’s photographs and supplied the image for this article. Sources for this article include Photography in Canada, 1839–1989 by Sarah Bassnett and Sarah Parsons, 2023; and The Magic Box: The Eccentric Genius of Hannah Maynard by Claire Weissman Wilks, 1980. For more information on Hannah Maynard, look forward to Hannah Maynard: Life & Work, by Elizabeth Anne Cavaliere, to be released in 2026.

LEFT: Hannah Maynard; “Eighteen Hundred Gems of British Columbia Greet You!” from ; 1884; BC Archives, Royal BC Museum, Victoria.

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Read Art 20 photoED

IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME

BY CORINNA VANGERWEN

A ONE-AND-A-HALF-STOREY converted warehouse, tucked away on a residential street in the Little Italy neighbourhood of Ottawa, is home to a unique institution — the SPAO Photographic Arts Centre. The centre houses a gallery, a residency program, and the only two-year photographic arts college diploma program in Canada. The SPAO, Photographic Arts and Production Diploma program draws applicants from around the world, and accepts only 16 students per year into its full-time program.

Founded in 2005 by art instructor Michael Tardioli, creative director Khalia Scott, and 20 students who pooled their money to launch it, the school was created to provide an alternative to the commercially focused photographic training offered by other colleges. “The students wanted something special that lived up to their educational expectations,” says Jonathan Hobin, the current creative director of SPAO. “No other program was offering that, so they built it.”

That grassroots origin and small student body have allowed a

close-knit community to flourish. “When you have a small group of people and they support one another, they care for one another,” says Jonathan. “You learn about people, you go deep, and you get vulnerable. It really is incredible.”

Operating more like an artist-run centre than a typical art school, SPAO’s intimate, collaborative environment fosters cross-pollination of ideas between students of diverse backgrounds and ages. Instructors know every student by name and nurture the vision of each one, providing one-toone mentorship and a safe, supportive space for students to grow and flourish as artists. “It’s a space that feels much more like a home away from home than a college or university campus,” says Jonathan.

With a strong focus on process and experimentation, SPAO encourages students to push the boundaries of traditional photographic techniques. In year one, students explore subjects such as portraiture and landscape photography, and learn various technical processes such as cyanotype and dry photoED 21

LEFT: SPAO Open House 2022. Photo by Eric Reid.

RIGHT: RAH Artist talk SPAO 2019.

plate. “We believe in the art of craft,” says Jonathan. “If you’re going to be working with photography, you have to understand your tools.”

This foundation serves as a catalyst for students to experiment and develop their own unique artistic practices, which they then refine in their second year as they learn the business of being an artist.

Classes covering topics such as project planning, building a portfolio, and community engagement prepare students for a successful art career. “It’s not just about learning photography,” says Jonathan. “It’s about learning how to be an artist.”

STEVE WEST Class of 2020

This is the promise of SPAO — a space where students enjoy a transformative experience and become the lens-based artists they’re meant to be.

Alumni have seen their work shown in and represented by local and international galleries, and have participated in photography festivals and art fairs around the world. They’ve sold pieces into public and private collections, have won major awards and grants, and have been featured in major media outlets.

Steve West first attended SPAO as a part-time student while he was working as a consultant in the Health Sciences sector. With encouragement from the school’s founder, Michael Tardioli, Steve enrolled and was accepted into the full-time diploma program. “I was a mature student, so I felt I had to justify to my classmates — and prove to myself — that I belonged in this artistic environment,” he shares.

Here we share the stories of three SPAO alumni and how attending the tiny Ottawa college lay the groundwork for their thriving photographic arts careers. These artists have pioneered new, original photographic techniques, a testament to the disruptive nature of SPAO’s methodology. Each of their practices meld different photographic techniques together to create something completely original. �

With a highly accomplished career in health sciences, Steve is building an equally impressive second act in the photographic arts. Aestheticizing brain scan imaging data, his current work explores the mysteries of the human brain and those living with substance use disorders. Steve emphasizes, “I cannot stress enough the impact SPAO had on my artistry as well as providing me with the technical and post-production foundations to realize the work I want to produce. It gives you the confidence to experiment, be technically competent. For me, that’s just as important as producing the artistic work.”

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That self-doubt quickly dissipated amid the nurturing environment of SPAO. Steve says, “When I look back at where I was when I started, and then what I achieved by the end of the diploma, it’s amazing. It was lifechanging and incredibly enriching for me as a person.”

"Conception of Tranquility" Steve West Brain scan image

– Steve West, class of 2020 photoED 23

WHITNEY LEWIS-SMITH Class of 2011 Whitney Lewis-Smith had all but abandoned her artistic practice before attending SPAO. She was working in marine science at the time and enrolled in the photography school to focus on documentary techniques for use in tandem with her underwater fieldwork. However, the two-year program changed Whitney’s trajectory completely and her studio practice developed into a very successful career. “The program opened doors for me that I hadn’t previously considered,” she says.

These days, Whitney builds elaborate botanical constructions and captures them on 8×10 glass plate negatives, using techniques she first began experimenting with at SPAO. She then transfers the image to a copper etching plate, using printmaking to reproduce the photo with the historic photogravure process.

“What I learned at SPAO has remained as a sort of rulebook for me ever since,” she says.

Represented by the Bau-Xi Gallery in Toronto and Vancouver, Whitney has shown her work in galleries and art fairs as far as Seattle, Mexico, and Spain. Her pieces are in the collections of Global Affairs Canada and the City of Ottawa, as well as the private collection of Justin Trudeau and Sophie Grégoire Trudeau.

– Whitney Lewis-Smith, class of 2011

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Photo by Nicholas Castel.

“Transfix” by Whitney Lewis-Smith.

Heliogavure etching on copper.

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KAMRYN WOLOSCHUK Class of 2023 Kamryn Woloschuk was procrastinating from doing schoolwork for her non-arts program in second-year university when she searched online for Canadian photography schools. Amid a sea of commercial programs, SPAO stood out to her as a place where she could develop an artistic practice without the fouryear commitment a degree program required.

Once she became a student, Kamryn found her time at SPAO to be not only fun but also validating. “I finally felt like an actual artist. It’s fulfilling to be a part of a community that takes your art and experience seriously, especially when you haven’t felt that before,” she says.

The small cohort had a broad range of life experiences, artistic talents, and philosophical perspectives — a diversity that helped Kamryn expand her own practice. Used to working in isolation, she says, “My favourite thing about attending SPAO was how the passion of those around me ended up fuelling my own.”

Inspired by the Venus of Willendorf, Kamryn photographs what she affectionately refers to as fat bodies, and melding their forms over roughly articulated clay using post production tools.

Now a graduate and emerging artist of the highest calibre, the queer multidisciplinary artist sees her practice not only as an outlet for self-expression, but also as a means to contribute to conversations on mental health, feminism, and community.

– Kamryn Woloschuk, class of 2023

LEFT: “Venus XX” RIGHT: “Venus I” Kamryn Woloschuk.

Composite images.

For more information about SPAO and how to apply to its college diploma program, visit spao.ca.

EMMA NISHIMURA

STORIES, MEMORIES, HISTORIES

BY CORINNA VANGERWEN

It was a discovery that would lead to the creation of dozens of artworks, reveal previously unknown details of a family’s history, and tell the story of Canada’s forcible relocation and internment of some 22 000 Japanese Canadians during World War II.

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PAGE LEFT: “Slocan City,” 2019, photo etching with gampi chine collé.

ABOVE: From the series, “Shikata Ga Nai: Nothing Can be Done About It,” 2024, photo etching on gampi with thread.

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On the hunt for some family photo albums, Toronto-based artist Emma Nishimura had opened up a cardboard box labelled Drafting Patterns, which had been in storage since her grandmother had died, in 2005. “It’s this funny old margarine box and then inside there’s more than 200 small paper garments,” says Emma. “It’s just wild.” The miniature 3D dresses and shirts were made from brown kraft paper, each one delicately cut, pleated, folded, and hand-sewn into classic 1940s-style fashions, about 10 to 20 centimetres high.

Combing through the accompanying notebooks, Emma learned that her grandmother had continued her work as a seamstress

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while she was detained at the Slocan City internment camp in British Columbia’s West Kootenay region. It was one of several camps the federal government forced Japanese Canadians to live in from 1942 until 1945 as part of the War Measures Act, in reaction to Japan’s raid on Pearl Harbor.

Emma’s grandmother, or her baachan, had created paper maquettes to test that she had drafted her patterns properly before sewing full-size fabric versions. Inside the notebooks of patterns and design sketches, there were loose pieces of paper that listed the names of fellow internees and their measurements, along with

“How do I honour her work and how do I navigate my own way forward?”

From the series, “Shikata Ga Nai: It Cannot be Helped,” 2024, photo etching on gampi with thread.

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the articles of clothing she had made for each person.

despite living in remote British Columbia with no running water or electricity.

“I sat on that for a couple of months before I could make anything,” says Emma. “I didn’t know what to do with them — how do I honour her work and how do I navigate my own way forward?”

The titles of these two works refer to a phrase — shikata ga nai — that’s commonly used by Japanese Canadian elders when discussing the internment camps. Meaning “It cannot be helped” or “Nothing can be done about it,” the phrase is emblematic of a tendency to brush aside the immense trauma of living through that time in history. “Within Japanese Canadian culture, there’s this desire to just move on — let’s not look at it,” says Emma. “I think there were lots of feelings of shame and of anger.

There’s so many people who didn’t want to talk about it.” For Emma, that meant her grandparents didn’t share many details of their time in captivity. (Her grandfather was forced to work at the Yard Creek road camp, building highways in British Columbia.)

This left Emma to piece together her family history from secondhand stories, historical research, and their photo albums.

After locating the albums she had originally been hunting for, Emma discovered some photos of her grandmother’s life at the internment camp. “Those photographs hold so much history, and there’s so much power in them,” says Emma. “I could display those albums as an artwork in their own right. But how can I, as an artist, work with those images that aren’t mine and turn them into something where we can talk about that complicated history in more nuanced ways?”

Emma’s solution: combine the found photographs with replicas of the paper garments in a series called Baachan’s Patterns, which explores themes of assimilation, memory, and what it means to be Japanese Canadian.

First, Emma turned the found images from her grandmother’s albums into photo etchings, printing them onto thin yet incredibly strong Japanese gampi paper. She then hand-sewed the prints into 15centimetre dresses, echoing her grandmother’s use of kraft paper.

In “Shikata Ga Nai: It Cannot Be Helped,” the skirts of six paper dresses are printed with images of the temporary tents Japanese internees lived in before many of the permanent camp structures had been built. In “Shikata Ga Nai: Nothing Can Be Done About It,” ten identical dresses showcase a group photo of women at the camp, looking stylish in well-put-together outfits of skirts, cardigans, and blazers (perhaps some that Emma’s grandmother made?). Their hair is perfectly coiffed, 32 photoED

This lost history, the concept of lost memories, is represented in Emma’s work through its form. Photographs replicated as etched prints lose detail in the copying process — from photo to printing plate, from plate to paper print. And when Emma sews those prints into tiny garments based on the miniature patterns her grandmother left behind, even more detail gets lost in the folds.

In 1945, after the end of the war brought the internment camps to a close, Japanese Canadians weren’t allowed to return to the West Coast. Instead, the government made them choose between moving to Japan or moving east. Emma’s grandparents — both Canadian citizens born in Vancouver — chose the second option and landed in Hamilton. Their home there is featured in Emma’s piece “Frederick Avenue,” the corner of the back-and-white photo etching overlaid with a hand-sewn shirtwaist dress of paper.

From the series, “Federick Avenue,” 2024, photo etching on gampi with thread.

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“How much of this story can we know?

What’s hidden? What can we find out?

In my work, there’s an acknowledgement of this inability to know everything.”

In the window, barely visible, is a sign that says Dressmaking — a detail Emma hadn’t noticed until after making the photo plate. “It’s these amazing discoveries constantly,” she says. “I keep looking back at these images, and I’m able to discover something else.”

That’s been the magic of Baachan's Patterns — personal discovery for Emma, of her family history, but also an exploration of a broader Japanese Canadian history. By telling the story of her grandparents’ internment, Emma puts their lives into historical context, humanizing the ongoing impacts that wartime and callous governmental actions have. Even if viewers have no personal connection to this specific chapter in history, they’re able to empathize and see parallels to their own family histories as well as to present-day world events. Emma’s work is an invitation to learn and understand history through personal stories.

At the same time, there’s an acknowledgement that some of that story is lost to history. “A lot of my work addresses ideas of accessibility and inaccessibility,” says Emma. “How much of this story can we know? What’s hidden? What can we find out? In my work, there’s an acknowledgement of this inability to know everything.” emmanishimura.com

From the series, “Shikata Ga Nai: Nothing Can be Done About It,” 2024, photo etching on gampi with thread.

CURIOSITY, WONDER, AND UNMITIGATED OPTIMISM:

MARTHA DAVIS AN INTERVIEW WITH RITA GODLEVSKIS

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From the series.

LEFT: “Screenagers,” mixed-media diorama, 2024.

CENTRE: “Step by Step,” mixed-media diorama, 2023.

RIGHT: “If Only,” mixed-media diorama, 2023.

ASIDE FROM THE bright colours in and intricate constructions of every piece Martha Davis produces, what has her work stand out in a world overwhelmed with images and information is her unique passion for connecting with people by using images as conduits for wider, more important conversations.

Critics may pick at her crude constructions, but the intention behind her vast catalogue of photographs, film, and video work surpasses any need to pay attention to these details. In her Diorama Dramas, Martha’s unique ability to make difficult conversations easy and even joyful is infectious. The work never shies away from asking bold, yet simple, questions of viewers, literally asking them to reflect on everything from the housing crisis, to global environmental issues, racism, food security, technology, and more.

Her constructions combine everything and the kitchen sink: photos plucked from the Internet and collaged for backgrounds, miniature figures, animals, and toys from her collection that she feels will suit her scene and provoke discussion.

Melding hard questions with community conversations through photography is no easy task.

I asked her some questions about her practice.

You have been creating images and stories with and for various local communities for a long time. Why is this important to you, and how did you get started?

Martha: Collaboration with my subjects/participants has been at the heart of my work for over 40 years. I’ve always found it beneficial to have input from others. They give me motivation as well as fresh insights into my ideas.

As a filmmaker in the late 1980s, I made films that asked questions of collaborators and framed stories with bare bones concepts that had actors improvise their way through the process. In my career as an elementary school teacher, I enjoyed making videos and books with kids based on curriculum themes. They always had the final say in how they participated.

After retiring from teaching in 2017, I plunged into an ongoing program I invented where senior citizens collaborate with me to do anything and go anywhere through the magic of making green screen–based images.

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outside, it evolved organically to become so much more than that, and a much larger, different story emerged.

The Diorama Drama work involves collaboration through viewer feedback. I create physical 3D dioramas and install them in a 17×11 inch box in my front garden. I have a white board with a dry erase marker available for comments and suggestions, and I have installed lighting inside the box for additional visibility. I create a new diorama each week using photo collage backgrounds, assembling toy figures and various other elements. I document each one in my studio before it goes outside. When the ephemeral installation comes down at the end of the week, I keep the pieces for future use and am left with the photographs. The work has undergone several iterations, including gallery exhibitions, class visits, an artist talk, books, calendars, and diorama making workshops.

The project, as seen in the video you made, was an idea that snowballed from a simple installation for kids to enjoy playing outside during the Pandemic, to a full-on education in democracy and an award-winning short film.

How did this evolution take place?

Martha: The evolution of Pandaland surprised even me. Kids got

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so involved, donating toy pandas and playing for hours within the installation, which grew and changed as they played. A whole society of toy pandas emerged, run by the neighbourhood kids.

After a while, as in any cooperative society, issues emerged that needed to be dealt with, such as not enough housing for every toy panda, and a dirty lake. The kids decided to hold an election to choose which problem to focus on first, the housing or the environmental issue.

Adults and children from the neighbourhood were invited to vote, and 295 ballots were cast. The outcome was a testament to kids’ compassion and the birth of their civic engagement. My film documented the whole process. It’s an optimistic and lighthearted story demonstrating that even young children can effect change when they work together. (You can see Pandaland: Making IT Count on my website.)

Pandaland was the inspiration for my weekly Diorama Drama work, which explores the many challenges we face in our world. The pandas continue as occasional subjects in the dioramas.

In you dive head first into discussions on really challenging topics, including the war in Ukraine, homeless tent encampments in the city, food insecurity, and

From the series.

LEFT: “Movin’ On,” mixed-media diorama, 2023.

CENTRE: “Pandas’ Ark,” mixed-media diorama, 2024.

RIGHT: “The Election from ” multimedia installation in Toronto, 2021.

the devastation of the planet. The kids seem to engage with you and the toys quite freely. Tell us a bit about this.

Martha: I began this project when I was feeling restless and Pandemic-weary in the fall of 2022. I was overwhelmed by all the stuff going on in the world and I expected others were probably feeling the same way. I saw people’s mental health being negatively affected, and I wanted to help. Although the dioramas have a darker tone than the funny and poignant Dream Scenes or the charming Pandaland project, they are still presented in a playful manner, making their challenging themes approachable.

When I’ve facilitated discussions about the dioramas at the exhibitions or in a class setting, kids have opened up dramatically.

There are many possible interpretations of the work because each diorama explores more than one theme. Kids dig in happily. Some have stated that they’re glad somebody is “actually talking about this stuff.” Kids can get by the darkness in the images because of their playful presentations. Occasionally, a single diorama can provoke half-hour long conversations!

I’m pretty sure these conversations aren’t happening regularly at home. I sometimes get a vibe that parents want to protect their kids from the hard truths a little longer, or maybe don’t know how

to go about talking with their kids about these challenges. I’ve attempted to provide a solution to this by creating books of my diorama photographs, with each photograph accompanied by a single important question to serve as a spark for conversation.

The idea is that, when a dialogue is opened about challenging issues, creative and productive discussions can be held and problem-solving, even in its most visceral form, can occur between adults and children.

Adults have also expressed interest in my dioramas, and I have developed a loyal fan base in my neighbourhood. In good weather, I like to hang out on my front porch, chat with passersby and entertain their various interpretations of the work. “Your work possesses a nostalgic melancholy,” said one Toronto critic, which I take as a compliment. Many folks appreciate the detail in the construction. Others marvel at the obsessive nature of my determination to complete a new diorama each week.

Your work with seniors as the Green Screen Queen is often funny, and it is a joy to see older adults being silly and having fun. The results clearly convey a positive and likely therapeutic experience. What’s your secret to staying fun and encouraging people to dream big at any stage of life?

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Martha: I’ve always had an affinity for seniors. I never knew my own grandparents, but as a child I adopted the two old ladies who lived next door and visited them regularly. As a teacher, I ran an intergenerational program for many years. After I retired I began working with seniors as a therapy dog handler. I made close friendships with many folks in this role. Senior citizens “have the child in them,” a certain joy and sense of abandon. They’re just not worried about what others may think. People tell me I have the same childlike glee.

On the green screen, seniors are more than happy to engage. Some go to a place beloved to them from their past while others revel in trying something new that they could no longer physically manage.

I make prints, collages, and calendars for them, and these are shared around the residences with great excitement. 92 is the new 29!

Many elderly folks are lonely and, yes, the photos I make with them are therapeutic, a chance to leave their present monotony and have an adventure through the photo. I sit with them as we compose the photo together and witness the surprise and delight on their faces at the moment they see themselves magically appear on their chosen background. It’s very rewarding work with the oxytocin flowing freely both ways. It keeps me motivated and wanting to do more.

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Although you sometimes present dark topics, your work always feels optimistic. How do YOU stay optimistic?

Martha: My worldview is basically positive. I believe most people are good. I generally like to look on the sunny side and try to maintain like-minded friends. If somebody is gloomy, I don’t tend to hang with them too long. In my work, when things don’t go my way, I’m upset for a short time, but I quickly get over my funk and persevere. It’s resilience, I guess. I’m driven to complete my projects and half the fun is finding a workaround. I’ve been told I possess curiosity, wonder, and “unmitigated optimism.”

What have been the most surprising things to come out of your interactions with your participants — either the seniors or the kids?

Martha: One day I was chatting with a small group of kids in my front garden about the diorama “If Only” when a little girl piped up. She said, “When you make a sad one, I feel like crying, but when you make a happy one, a big smile comes to my face.” I shouldn’t have been surprised to hear this, but it was put so bluntly, as only a child can, that I was caught short. It led me to consider that my diorama work could use more optimism. It also led me to thinking, “What would kids do with these materials if

From the series.

LEFT: “Doris’ Cat Rescue #2,” green-screened photo collage, 2017.

CENTRE: “Margaret Braves the Bucking Bronco,” green-screened photo collage, 2017.

RIGHT: “Marion’s Tubing Adventure,” green-screened photo collage, 2017.

they had them in their hands? How would they create their own brand of optimism?” This led me to develop my diorama-making workshops. Another great surprise was when CityNews, a local Toronto television station, produced a few segments on my work.

I was thrilled at the promotion.

What photography projects can we look forward to seeing from you in the future?

Martha: I’d like to continue making short films and self-funding them with my teacher’s pension. Pandaland was shot entirely on my iPhone. One can do a lot with a little in the digital world.

Whose work has influenced yours?

Martha: Maybe not a direct influence, but certainly an idol, Michael Snow is truly a Renaissance conceptual artist in all forms of media. I created a diorama as an homage to him and his work when he died.

I fell in love with the wonderful clay work of Karine Giboulo when I viewed her exhibit Housewarming at the Gardiner Museum in 2023. Her installations were both poignant and humorous, exploring similar social issues and we quickly became Facebook friends. When I attended her clay workshop, she gifted me a clay figure. With her permission, I’ve used the tiny, seated “Karine” figure in many dioramas. She’s everywoman, unpainted, she has no baggage. I love working with her.

As for the dioramas, to date, I’ve installed 84 dioramas in my garden and I’m aiming for 100. I’d like to see my book of diorama photographs get traditionally published. I also want to see my diorama-making workshops for students thrive. I call them Healing our world. Kids assemble their dioramas using kits I’ve prepared on six of my major themes: climate, food security, housing, technology, animal welfare, and belonging. I’ve held seven workshops for about 150 kids so far and have found they love this idea of finding light in darkness, coming up with all sorts of scenes to make the world a better place. Of course my dream is that through these workshops they might turn their ideas into action. I guess that’s my “unmitigated optimism” at work!

Martha Davis is a photo-based artist, award-winning independent filmmaker, children’s author and retired public elementary teacher based in Toronto.

See more of Martha’s work at greenscreenqueen.ca

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PURE MINIMALISM BILLED AS THE WORLD’S GREATEST PHOTO GAME, GuruShots is an international competition platform for photographers.

Players get feedback from more than three billion monthly voters and try to work their way up through rankings, from Newbie to the ultimate status (and bragging rights) of Guru.

GuruShots’ challenges are voted on by the platform’s Gurus and the wider community, with a fresh challenge every day. Winners can receive prizes from GuruShots’ sponsors such as Adorama, Kodak, Lowepro, and Lensbaby.

The Pure Minimalism Challenge showcases beauty in simplicity through images from around the world.

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1. Dani Major • USA 2. Cachedigga • Germany 3. Olga Zeltser • USA 4. Will • USA 5. Mg Dgaf • Austria 6. Americo Sequeira • Portugal 7. Lukasz Szubartowicz • Poland 8. Stoica Emilian • Germany 9. David Feldt • Sweden 10. Daniel Calicchio • Portugal

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11. Roy Egloff • Switzerland 12. Bradley Benskin • Barbados 13. Mario Congreve • USA 14. Daiva Ališauskiene • Lithuania 15. Suave • USA 16. Greg Baccei • USA 17. Bryony Herrod-Taylor • UK 18. Anika Krstic • Serbia 19. Simona L. Neumann • Romania 20. Ryszard Tutko • Poland

20 See more entries from this challenge online: photoed.ca/post/gurushots-minimalism

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PORTFOLIO

All of the artists in this PORTFOLIO used photography as a creative blender to slowly and carefully create works that are considered, intentional, and complicated.

From our first-ever international open call for submissions, we’re beyond excited to present stories that speak on topics ranging from daydreams to environmental issues, war, and human rights in ways that beautifully convey artists’ inner thoughts and invite viewers to slow down and to be curious, empathetic, and inspired towards positive, peaceful change in the world.

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TRINA O’HARA Australia/Italy

TAKE THE BALL AND RUN WITH IT The black sphere in these images represents the canon, the enduring presence of art history that shapes my photography. I seek to preserve the technical ideals of the past while creating new conversations in the present. Classical sculpture and history influence every aspect of my work. I spent seven years painting replicas of all Caravaggio’s paintings.

Here, I present a cross-pollination of traditional and contemporary artforms. These images combine my paintings and photography collaged into AI spaces. trinaohara.com photoED 47

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SARAH E. FULLER Canada

SUBMERSED LANDSCAPES I’m engaged with the idea that the ecosystem has agency, and that a rendering of the land can not only be expressed as an image, but also revealed through chemistry. To create this series, I used elements from the landscape to alter the images through a process called “film souping.” This technique chemically alters images captured on traditional 35mm film by submersion in a concoction of unconventional elements prior to film development.

I wanted to use elements from the environment I was photographing. Water from the Athabasca Glacier was combined with charcoal from a local controlled burn, and Labrador tea leaves collected outside the National Park were the ingredients in my “soup.” I submerged a roll of film with images I took at various locations around the Canadian Rocky Mountains. The result is surreal, quasi-psychedelic imagery that presents the chemical imprint of the ecosystem onto the emulsion.

The idea of submersion speaks to the history and origins of the mountains and the stones, at the bottom of an ancient sea. The chemical reactions that appear on the surface of the film are akin to (and biochemically influenced by) the multicellular sea life entombed 530 million years ago in the stone of the Burgess Shale, drawing attention to the micro and the macro simultaneously present in the land. sarahefuller.com

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PAVLO FYSHAR Ukraine/Germany

THE PRISONERS These «Prisoners» are unemotional, apathetic loners, shackled in mirrors. These images were made in Kyiv just after the war began. I present contrasts of soft and hard, heavy and light, angular and smooth. The works illustrate internal emotions as abstractions from the news.

IG: @billi_rubin

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LEFT: Fateme Eslamyan painted on the wall of a 70-year-old gas station office that has been abandoned for 30 years.

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RIGHT: Najmeh Kazazi painted on the wall of an abandoned garage in Tehran.

This garage has been vacant since the revolution and a watchman along with his family live here to prevent addicts from trespassing. The guard collects and keeps pigeons for fun, as he does not have much work all day. Najmeh, an aspiring artist, believes that we create art to save ourselves because our own salvation might lead to the salvation of the world.

MARYAM FIRUZI Iran

SCATTERED MEMORIES OF A DISTORTED FUTURE The suffering we endure manifests itself in ruins. What effect does the artist have on this state of ruin?

In this series, ruins are a metaphor for pain. Here, between a silent past and a distorted future, I invited female painters to paint in abandoned places; painting a masculine history, a picture on the face of the past, art that asks questions about our future. maryamfiruzi.com photoED 59

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PREVIOUS PAGE: Razieh Iranpour painted on the wall of an abandoned train station from the first Pahlavi era.

LEFT: Manijeh and Parisa Hejazi are sisters and always work together on their art.

Together they painted on the wall of an abandoned coffee house in Tehran.

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RIGHT: Pooneh Oshidari painted on the wall of an 150-year-old house that belonged to a master of mysticism and philosophy from the era of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, located in one of the oldest streets of Tehran. The house has been abandoned for 40 years and its owner lives in the United States. Pooneh is a painter influenced by Persian ancient culture and myths.

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ROSEMARY HORN New Zealand

REIMAGINING THE BROOK VALLEY: THE MAKING AND REMAKING OF LAND Colonists during the mid 1800s in the Brook Valley in New Zealand arrived with an attitude towards the land of taking it over with absolute control. This place is now an example of mistakes made in the past and regeneration in progress for the future.

I have used the sun to make prints of local industrialized landscapes on leaves from my garden. While the sun is the creator of these works, it will also destroy them. photogirl.co.nz IG: @photogirl168

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DIEGO FABRO Brazil/Dublin

REVERIE PARK This work was created in both Ireland and Brazil, combining the textures of analog film with the precision of digital. Shifting between location and studio, the work presents symbols of the tension between vitality and decay, and the blured boundaries between the waking world and the dreamscape. diegofabro.com

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MONICA ROONEY Canada

FROM THE SERIES, This work explores my thoughts and feelings about raising my two transgender children. I merge their portraits with text on what it means to be trans, the obstacles my children face, and expressions of disinformation spread by people who would rather that these children, my children, did not exist.

The title of the project is drawn from an essay by Gwendolyn Smith in the Philadelphia Gay News published July 22, 2024, titled “We Remain.”

Smith writes, “No matter what, they cannot truly stop people from being transgender or nonbinary. We have faced decades of hardship. We faced centuries before that, too — and yet, we remain… We cannot deny who we are, and no amount of hardship piled up on us can stop a trans soul from existing.”

The time I put into this work mirrors the glacial pace of progress on transgender rights. Things may feel discouraging right now but we are not going back.

We remain. monicarooney.com photoED 71

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“Disappearing Tuvalu.”

Funafuti atoll, the capital of Tuvalu, is 5 metres above sea level. Scientists predict Tuvalu will be underwater by 2050, displacing children and families, who will lose their homeland.

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CHRISTINE GERMANO Canada

CONVERGENCE Who we are is innately connected to where we live, the land, sea, weather, flora and fauna that surround us. My work celebrates the resilience and fortitude of people residing in remote regions in the Arctic and Small Island Developing States. christinegermano.ca IG: @christine_germano

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TOP:“Greenlandic Hunter.”

Uunartoq was an incredible hunter, dog musher, outdoor guide, and a wonderful joyous person who worked as a mentor to youth about living on the land.

BOTTOM: “Chukotka Reindeer Herders.”

Chukchi women adorn their heads with beautifully beaded headbands that move elegantly. These Siberian reindeer herders follow animals in some of the most remote terrains in the world, sleeping in huts on the Tundra.

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TOP: “Greenlandic Love.”

The island of Uummannaq translated means . Karen and Peter live a traditional subsistence life, eating food that Peter hunts. They have a profound love for each other and the land that surrounds them.

BOTTOM: “Nunavut Ice Jumper.”

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ZELDA ZINN USA

ALTERED ARCTIC For centuries, the Arctic has been the site of expeditions and often heartbreak, where so many lost their lives in the quest of conquering the unknown. Seeing this majestic land in person, I thought of those who were left behind, not knowing whether their loved ones were alive or dead.

I came back from the Arctic with photos of a vast, unknowable place. As a way to make sense of my experience, I combined reassuring traces of home with these wild landscapes. Comforting signs of domesticity are overlaid to combine interior and exterior, and exotic and familiar as a framework for considering the Arctic on my own terms. zeldazinn.com

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RALPH NEVINS Canada

STRAVINSKY FOUNTAIN RE-IMAGINED Featuring moving sculptures and spraying water, the Stravinsky Fountain next to the Centre Pompidou in Paris is at the base of these images created from high-speed 4K video and time slice slitscans. This new representation of the artwork melds images from roughly two minutes of video. ralph.ca photoED 83

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“Memory Blow Up,” 2024.

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BENJAMIN FREEDMAN’S REAL FICTIONS

BY ALAN BULLEY

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“Lazy Sunday,” 2023.

IT’S A PICTUREPERFECT

summer’s day at the cottage until … it’s just not. Not much later, you stumble across the untidy remains of a rowdy holiday party at an office where you might have worked. You can’t exactly put your finger on it, but something is a little off. Not quite right.

You’re reaching back for an old word you haven’t used in a long while, but now is the right time: uncanny.

Welcome to the fictional world of Benjamin Freedman.

A graduate of the photography program at Toronto Metropolitan University in 2013, Benjamin received training that ran along classical documentary lines: “a pure window for people to look at the world,” as he puts it. More recently, he has developed an increasingly personal vision that gives him the freedom to make his own stories rather than tell those of other people. His interest grew in using metaphor, storytelling, and exploring how he could use the camera differently. He says, “I 88 photoED

began to realize the inherent connection photography has to fiction, so a lot of my projects since graduating have veered into that territory.”

Early signs of the shift into fictional territory are present in his exhibition and book Observations of Foreign Objects in a Remote Town. Benjamin recalls that “the deliberately long title references a very academic journal, and the idea grew from conversations with Icelandic locals I met during a two-month residency.” This residency in Skagaströnd marked an important crossroad for the artist because it produced two quite different projects. Day Luna — a documentary series on car trips with Icelandic youth — was a traditional film-based work shot on medium format and in keeping with his undergraduate training. Observations, on the other hand, was a test flight into the world of fictional narrative with a digital SLR. It was based on stories about the Apollo 11 astronauts training in Iceland, and how many people in the local bar were convinced that the entire moonwalk was

TOP: “4th of July,” 2023.

BELOW: “Convenient Store,” 2023.

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LEFT: “Big Brother Party,” 2022.

PAGE RIGHT; TOP, LEFT: “Clocking Off,” 2022.

TOP, RIGHT: “Smoke Break,” 2022.

BELOW: “F Work,” 2022.

fake news. Benjamin says, “They were like, the moon landing never happened. The world changed around this truth, and it wasn’t even really a debate with them.”

After several years of working, including a six-year term as Artistic Project Manager at the Contact Photography Festival, Benjamin decided that it was time to refocus on his own practice. In mid-Pandemic 2021, he began the graduate program in Photography at the École cantonale d’art de Lausanne (ECAL) in Switzerland. There, Benjamin was encouraged to ask in-depth questions about the future of photography: “What new technologies are people using? How do they fit within the canon of photography? What can be considered a photograph?

What can’t? What is the current state of AI?” Learning CGI at ECAL and using open-source Blender led to new ways to think about making images. Benjamin shares, “I was always jealous of painters because they could go from mind to creation; they could start with a blank canvas to invent a world.” The freedom came with a steep learning curve to master 90 photoED

the software, but it meant that he no longer had to rely on looking for Henri Cartier-Bresson’s decisive moment. It also meant that Benjamin could have fun: “There’s a sense of humour to the CGI work too, because I think it’s kind of funny to use this really intense high-powered software to make quiet, banal images — there’s something ironic about it.”

But are AI and CGI in any real sense photography? For Benjamin, the question may not ultimately matter: “I’m still rooted in the history of photography and my compositions are very classical,” he says. “They’re photorealistic.” And for someone who grew up playing video games, it’s not a surprising answer. For a large part of the population, it is second nature to inhabit virtual worlds and to express themselves through avatars.These virtual spaces are experienced as real spaces. Benjamin remembers growing up playing World of Warcraft “where there are geographic distances to the continents. To cross an island, you spend a couple of hours with your avatar walking through it. These are physical spaces, landscapes that you can explore and photograph, or

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“New Morning Routine,” 2024.

record and create.” Travellers in virtual spaces cross the line between a 2D representation on a screen to mentally inhabit a 3D landscape because that is how they experience it. They see themselves participating in the landscape, and the mind and emotions go along for the ride.

The gaming world has also given new meaning to the idea of liminal spaces, those slippery and sometimes eerie non-places that can exist between environments within a game. That, in turn, led Benjamin to create Bad Work in the liminal space of the archetypal corporate office. He explains, “People still work in spaces like this, but I was thinking about how they can contribute to boredom and burnout. So, I created another fictional space by downloading digital assets from across the Internet and making them into a collage. It’s a visual trope of a location where people behave badly and act out against the capitalist forces keeping them there. It’s a holiday party where people have let their hair down.”

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away. This became the basis of further work that led to Positive Illusions. Benjamin says, “I had a memory from 1999 of a family trip to Maine. Through making the work, I realized that it’s not just about remembering; I’m actually altering a memory by exhuming it.” Viewing video recordings of the trip made it clear that some exhumed memories were accurate and some weren’t.

But it was less clear whether the accuracy of the memories mattered. As Benjamin reflects, “At some point, we all have memories like this, and the project becomes less of a personal document. It becomes something other people can appreciate and there’s something universal to talk about. Photographs aren’t always anchors.”

Indeed, using CGI and AI to create images can be remarkably freeing when the creator wields ultimate power over the creation. Every element in the fictional frame is placed with deliberate intention: setting, lighting, season, furnishings, characters. But is it a virtual paradox that creative freedom and godlike control can sit together so comfortably? benjaminfreedman.net

TOP: “Teen Diner,” 2023.

BELOW: “Bad Picnic,” 2023.

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DUANE ISAAC:

THE SURREAL

BY JESSE KING

AS I AM AN Ojibwe and Wasauksing First Nation (Eagle Clan) member, my curatorial interests explore many facets of identity, including discussions of queerness, gender, and the importance of cultural representation in art. I have always focused on rising artists who push boundaries and align with the themes and concepts I research.

Duane Isaac is one of those artists. They are of Mi’gmaq descent from rural Listuguj, Quebec. From studying at Dawson College to exhibiting in various galleries and publications, their practice catalyzes discussions of indigeneity and queerness, woven into themes of masculinity, femininity, and the power of camp.

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“Bloom,” 2018.

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, 2023.

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ABOVE: , exhibition at daphne Gallery, Montreal, in collaboration with articule, photographed by Guy L'heureux, 2023.

PAGE RIGHT: 2023.

Duane states, “My ‘Indigiqueer’ perspective shapes my artistic practice by exploring the intersectionality of identity, culture, and sexuality.”

later in post-production. Duane works with models, friends, and strangers to embody archetypes that comment on the ongoing glorification of the ideal body.

Duane creates surreal, fantastical masks inspired by ideas around their identity, made of found objects and recycled supplies. Their fabrication process involves forging every mask with a base layer of aluminum foil applied to a mould to create a smooth, seamless form. When pleased with the mould prototype, the mask gains a layer of foam clay, filling any gaps and creating stability. Once the foam clay has congealed, the mask is ready for protruding forms and embellishments.

Duane’s masks are fabricated in an organic flow in which mistakes and anomalies are embraced. These moments push the creative work in new directions throughout the process.

The photographs are narrowed down to four or five for the editing process. Duane uses Lightroom and Photoshop to layer in otherworldly environments to create an eerie playfulness. Ultimately, mask-making has been the most important part of their photography journey.

The creative process continues through the camera lens and

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I first became aware of Duane’s practice in 2018 when I came across "Bloom" (2018). This image specifically spoke to the concepts and themes I research, queerness and gender. Queer identity holds many complex states of fluctuation. The embodiment and notions of masc and fem are never in a fixed state and always waver. Often, our desires, relationships, and interactions are subjected to

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ABOVE: “Untitled 1,” 2023.

“Untitled 6,” 2024.

PAGE RIGHT: “Untitled 3,” 2023.

scrutiny, and expectations are made around sexuality and gender identity to fit a pre-manufactured mould. "Bloom" (2018) presents a traditionally masculine body that evolves past colonial ideologies surrounding sexuality and gender.

Duane and I worked together in 2023 at daphne x articule in Montreal. Celestial Bodies became a travelling exhibition that stemmed from my residency there. This group exhibition explored the experience of Indigenous Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer identities. Our work presented the audience with the statement: We are celestial bodies, and we transcend.

The Snake Series, consisting of three photographs and three sculptural masks’ were pieces created specifically for Celestial Bodies. This work challenges the traditional way we view photographs as art by allowing the viewer a new dimension to their experience. The handmade masks on display share

the artist’s hand and challenge the connection with the subject in the image. In this series, Duane presents concepts of the queer gaze through myth and fable iconography crafting a sense of the forbidden. Apples, pills, and snakes embody temptation, caution, and consequence, cloaked around the ideals of traditional beauty.

Duane’s practice is ever-evolving. A recent outdoor exhibition of their work in Quebec featured large-scale images printed on transparent sheets pressed into blocks of ice. New presentations such as this push their ideas around encapsulating the surreal, while continuing to propel viewers to question beauty and identity through ethereal, strange, and heavenly works. duanedisaac.com

Caption here Caption here Caption here Caption here

NATALIE HUNTER INSTALLATIONS OF LIGHT

BY BART GAZZOLA

“I feel that photographs can either document and record reality, or they can offer images as an alternative to everyday life: places for the viewer to dream in.”

– photographer Francesca Woodman, 1980

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“Through Sunset, Slow Dusk, and Gathering Dawn,” at the Judith & Norman Alix Art Gallery.

Curated by Sonya Blazek, 2024.

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W

When I think about Natalie Hunter’s work, I find my thoughts dominated by an aspect of an exhibition of her work in 2019 at the Rodman Hall Art Centre, Brock University, St. Catharines. I recollect standing outside the building, on a cold winter night, and how her vibrant transparencies in the windows glowed with warmth, offering viewers both an invitation and a sense of distancing too. Her work often plays with contrasting emotions.

The scene was forlorn but also edifying. I’d had a similar moment when I had encountered her 2023 installation in Niagara Artist Centre’s Plate Glass Gallery, a window exhibition space on St. Paul Street in downtown St. Catharines.

I had passed by this artwork spread across the three alcoves that faced out onto the street late at night, and it acted as both a beacon but also as a lone, almost religious, shrine amid the empty and delinquent downtown of the rust belt city.

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Natalie’s pieces begin as in-camera multiple exposure images using 35mm and 120mm colour film. She will also employ her own colour filters, passing them over the camera as the shutter opens for a brief flutter. Other times she photographs a scene as a double exposure that may be days or weeks apart. These images are scanned and printed on sheets of large transparent backlit film (a material often associated with commercial signage), and silk: materials she often gravitates to for their inherent qualities that let light pass through her images. These materials are fluid and flexible. Like a sculptor, she folds, curls, layers, and bends her images as undulating waves. For some installations, she drapes them over wood, metal, and acrylicglass structures, allowing for multiple interaction experiences of variations of light and space.

But to speak of individual artworks when discussing Natalie’s work is an incorrect approach. She creates installations of light

PAGE LEFT: “The sky seemed to fold in ribbons of palest sunlight,” 2017. Exhibited in (2019) at Rodman Hall.

Curated by Marcie Bronson.

Photo by Jimmy Limit.

TOP RIGHT: “Late one summer evening,” 2018. Exhibited in (2019) at Rodman Hall. Curated by Marcie Bronson. Photo by Jimmy Limit.

RIGHT: “Crystal Garden, leaves and light for C,” 2023.

Photo by Natalie Hunter.

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that evoke feelings that are more than the sum of the parts. The visitor can walk through the light they splay across gallery floors and walls, being illuminated in colour in real time and space, becoming part of the work itself. This is one of the reasons why I’ve often referred to Natalie’s installations of her art as ephemeral architecture, a sentiment that applies whether we’re talking about her older works or the more recent 2024 exhibition Through sunset, slow dusk, and gathering dawn at the Judith and Norman Alix Art Gallery in Sarnia, Ontario.

The sun belongs to I once, for an instant The window belongs to you leaning on the afternoon – Elizabeth Willis, from her poem “Address”

In the words of the artist, “Our bodies are capsules of sensory information, matter, and memory. In my studio research I work with immaterial concepts such as light and time in material ways to question how our bodies flow through space, perceive images, and how we understand memory, physical, and psychological space. In this endeavour, I hope to better understand the precarious, uncertain, fluctuating state of our seemingly connected world; and how we remember as human beings in a constantly mediated, digitally obsessed, and image saturated culture.”

Natalie’s choices in naming her works are often lyrical. The title of the exhibition “Through sunset, slow dusk, and gathering dawn” makes me want to offer an equally poetic response to the work. In E.D. Blodgett’s Songs for Dead Children, the poet quotes Salvatore Quasimodo, “Everyone stands alone on the heart of the earth pierced through by a ray of sun and suddenly it’s evening.”

Another excerpt from Blodgett’s book is apt to cite here that I could imagine speaking as the fleeting and fading colours of Natalie’s installations wash over the walls, the floor, and myself.

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exhibition at Judith & Norman Alix Art Gallery.

Curated by Sonya Blazek. 2024.

Photo by Shelly Mallon.

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the sun never sets behind the trees eternity held in your hands

Instead, how the light and space shifts and fades depending on the time of day it is. This constant variation demands repeated visits to the experience to see the changing ambiences of the mise-enscene she creates for us.

The artwork has a funerary quality to me. A quiet contemplation is a necessary response to Natalie’s environments, which evoke notions of remembrance and even death, perhaps. In conversation with the artist, I have fully admitted that this is just my own subjective response, but the artist doesn’t deny this interpretation either, or that her “objects” are “amenable” to this.

For me, Natalie's work, Through sunset, slow dusk, and gathering dawn, is reminiscent of Jeanne Randolph’s writings wherein the viewer creates meaning for themselves through a personal interaction that meshes with objects and spaces.

The exhibition at the Judith and Norman Alix Art Gallery (a video of which can be seen at vimeo.com/939369702) is a room that is strikingly empty but is painted with the light and colours from the works that Natalie installed in tandem with the windows and glass doors. They fill the gallery with colour, vibrance, and even a sense of joy that we must recognize as transient, like ourselves, and tinged with an element of sadness for its temporal nature.

But my impression may be informed by that aforementioned first seminal encounter with Natalie’s work at Rodman Hall (which is amusingly reputed to be haunted). I felt that work had a solemn, serious quality to it. In many ways the actual artworks are not the most immediate or entrancing aspect of her installations.

This blurry contrast between absence and presence is a hallmark of this artist’s installations. As we move through and among her tableaux, we become part of the art. Our experiences are more about memory than physicality, more about our own ephemeral interaction with Natalie’s work than reflections on a staid, solid, immutable photograph. natalie-hunter.com

PAGE LEFT: LEFT, “Triple Window,” 2017.

RIGHT: “Mirrored In Light,” 2018. Exhibited in 2019) at Rodman Hall. Curated by Marcie Bronson. Photo by Jimmy Limit.

ABOVE: “Edge of Sky,” 2020-21. Exhibited in at the Judith & Norman Alix Art Gallery. Curated by Sonya Blazek, 2024. Photo by Toni Hafkenscheid.

THE GALLERY A DIGITAL EDITION PREVIEW

3.

1.

2.

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4.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE...

Check out the DIGITAL EDITION EXTRA ONLINE MAY 1, 2025 to see additional featured artists!

ALEXA MAZZARELLO ALEXANDRA BOLTON AMANDA FOULDS AMY HELLER BEN DICKEY BHUMIKA BHATIA CATHERINE HAWTHORN CHARLES PARK E ROSS BRADLEY ÉMILIE LÉGER FRANK GROSS GREGORY A MCCULLOUGH HAILEE MACQUEEN HEDY BACH IREM TURKKAN JOE ATIKIAN JULIA ZYRINA KATARINA MARINIC LAURA MA LAURENT GAGNON LEAH OATES LISA LOGAN LORI RYERSON LYNDA CUDDY MEGAN MOORE MIKE LONGLEY MIKOŁAJ TOMCZAK NAN AN OLEKSANDR SHAPOVALOV ORYSA STEIN POLO FARRERA RALPH TEEPLE RAMIN BARZEGAR ROSANNE MORRIS SAMANTHA JENSEN SHAYAN HAJINAJAF WALLY RAE XIATONG CAI

5.

1. SAMANTHA JENSEN HOLDING FIRE WITHIN MY FINGERS samanthakjensen.com

2. LEAH OATES TRANSITORY SPACE, CEDARVALE RAVINE, TORONTO, ONTARIO IG: @leahoates19

3. AMY HELLER ARMS UP II MULTIPLE amyheller.com

4. ORYSA STEIN A BOTANICAL RORSCHACH IG:@osteinphotography

5. LAURENT GAGNON CHAOS COLLECTION

Check it out online: photoed.ca/digital-issue

JULIA ZYRINA Netherlands

INVISIBLE THREADS The photograph represents the visible, while the embroidery captures the intangible. juliazyrina.art IG: @the_sun.rise_again

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