Artist statement

“Family Likeness” includes photographs from a project initiated by Claire Beaugrand-Champagne in the summer of 2000.This was an opportunity for her to explore family ties between mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, as well as brothers and sisters. When these pictures were taken, the models were invited to pick any chair and use it in any way they liked. The emotions revealed in this series of pictures range from affection to love and from respect to pride.

Biography

Born in Quebec in 1948, Claire Beaugrand-Champagne
has been taking documentary pictures for nearly 30
years. As a socially committed artist and photographer,
her reporting work has taken her to the four corners
of the world and her photographs are now included in
many major collections notably at the Quebec National
Museum of Fine Arts, the Library and Archives Canada,
the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art and
the McCord Museum. She has also worked for different
organizations, magazines, and newspapers, and participated
in numerous artistic events.

In 2004 she published a book entitled Des gens de mon
quartier (People from my neighborhood) at the Éditions
Libre Expression, in which she tells the extraordinary
stories of the ordinary people she has photographed.
Her work includes series such as Disraeli, Elderly People,
Army Recruits, or Refugee Camps and constitutes a precious
heritage for coming generations.