Canadaeast com tp arts karen ruet

Page 1

canadaeast.com - TP Arts

02/14/2006 08:34 AM

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

New Brunswick Weather

Log In

Change Password

search Go

NB Telegraph-Journal | Arts As published on page D1/D2 on January 28, 2006

Walking on Familial Ground online news

Home

KAREN RUET

Telegraph Journal News Sports Opinion Send a Letter to the Editor Reader Job Finder Print Advertising Info

Times & Transcript Daily Gleaner

Rafael Goldchain explores his genealogy in a witty exhibition of self-portraits at Fredericton's Gallery Connexion. He's walking on "Familial Ground." The walls of the two rooms of the gallery are lined with portraits of different characters but underneath the wigs, vintage clothes and fake moustaches, they're all Goldchain. It's delightful to see Rafael Goldchain as Don Marcus Jose Goldchain Liberman, Rafael Goldchain as Reizi Goldszajn. He's his uncle, a cousin, his own grandmother.

radio stations

The Tide 98.1 online services

Classifieds Wheels Careers CareerBeacon

(Karen Ruet/Special to the TelegraphJournal)

Photographs are about the past, says Toronto-based photographer Rafael Goldchain. In his exhibition of self-portraits at Fredericton’s Gallery Connexion, he explores his genealogy.

The Toronto-based photographer says that when we look at old family photographs often what we're looking for is a trace of ourselves. It's a natural instinct to attempt to figure out who we are and where we come from and, in Goldchain's case, it's a piecing together of fragments. Relatives have become scattered. Memories are elusive - sometimes it's impossible to make a complete picture of a piece of the past. As he tries to put together the parts of his ancestral puzzle he realizes how difficult the task is.

Personals Movie Central Communities/Events

Photographs are always about the past, says Goldchain, because as soon as you snap a shutter that second in time is already gone, and eventually the details of that time and place fade. Sometimes recovery is impossible.

Contests/Fun Stuff Salary Wizard free content

Obituaries [here]

The work here is complex: smart and serious, but also funny. The prints are larger than life and disarming in both their similarities and differences. The artist has provided his audience with clues to the drama he's created. If you look closely at one of the women, you will see chest hair peeking out of her blouse. The grandmother is decidedly masculine. He's done nothing to hide

http://canadaeast.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060128/TPLIFE23/601280571/-1/LIFE

Page 1 of 3


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.