Artist statement

My fascination for desert landscape began in 2000 when I went to Tucson for my solo show at the Center for Creative Photography and deepened when I returned in December 2003/January 2004. I was captivated by the cacti and land shapes of the Sonoran Desert, as well as by the winter light that seemed both soft and strong. The desert struck me as dense and sparse, full and empty, richly detailed and ascetically minimalist. I recognized the potential this landscape could provide for exploring the relation of self to place as a metaphor for bodily and psychological space.

My approach to photography is situated in the illusion of realism and my photographs look “documentary”. However,
I stage some photographs and I have always used darkroom manipulations to make analogue b&w and colour prints. I have been exploring how the artifice of digital manipulation might produce a “natural look” in the final print. What Photoshop alterations can be made to my landscape photographs that are not apparent to the viewer?

Biography

My photographs have been exhibited in many public and private galleries across Canada and in Europe. Major exhibitions have taken place at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal (1992) and the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography in Ottawa (1995), and Clara Gutsche. Les Paysages habités at VU in Quebec City (2005). Exhibitions, with publications, include the “Convent Series” at the Musée d’art de Joliette (1998) and the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, Arizona (2000), Dialogues d’intérieurs at the Musée de la Photographie à Charleroi, Belgium (2001), Presenze/Assenze in Rome (2002), Collèges et Couvents at the Château d’Eau in Toulouse (2003). My photographs are in the collections of the Canadian Centre for Architecture,
the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, the National Gallery of Canada, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, and the Library and Archives Canada. My work has been supported by grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, including the Duke and Duchess of York Prize in Photography, the Concordia University
Part-time Faculty Professional Development Fund, and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.