Artist Statement<\/strong><\/p>\n It wasn’t until having moved to the thriving metropolis of New York City that I began documenting the small towns and communities of western Canada where I grew up. In a sense, they’re partly biographical insofar as they represent places where I lived as a child and into my teens. However, having transplanted myself into such a sharply contrasting environment also made me view the place (largely responsible for having shaped me as an individual) in a radically new light. Not only did I begin reflecting on its influence upon me simply for having lived there, but I also began to consider, more generally, the geographic relationships of hinterland regions to major metropolitan centres\u2014as well as the social and economic aspects within these relationships\u2014through the lens of how the camera could interpret them visually.<\/p>\n Western Canada\u2019s small towns and communities are often viewed as existing at a social and economic disadvantage to places with major financial firms and large corporations, such as those radiating from larger city centres. Despite the geographic barriers determining their status as hinterland regions, the citizens living here have had a significant role in forming Canada\u2019s social infrastructure, from universal health care to affordable education. By forging strong community bonds and forming cooperative conglomerations, the people of these regions were able to resist exploitation by the large financial firms in Eastern Canada. (It is worth noting in this regard that the province of Saskatchewan elected the first socialist government in North America in the 1940s.) Since then, the region has gone through many economic and ideological shifts and changes. My photographic project aims to render visually the cumulative aggregate of these changes and influences that have both shaped me as well affected the people and places where I grew up.<\/p>\n Mot de l\u2019artiste<\/strong><\/p>\n Ce n\u2019est que lorsque j\u2019ai d\u00e9m\u00e9nag\u00e9 dans la vibrante m\u00e9tropole de New York City, que j\u2019entrepris de documenter les petites villes et communaut\u00e9s de l\u2019ouest canadien ou j\u2019ai grandi. D\u2019une certaine mani\u00e8re se fut un travail partiellement biographique dans la mesure o\u00f9 ces images repr\u00e9sentaient des lieux o\u00f9 j\u2019ai v\u00e9cu et grandi pendant mon enfance et mon adolescence. Cependant, ma transplantation dans un environnement radicalement diff\u00e9rent m\u2019a permis de percevoir de mani\u00e8re compl\u00e8tement diff\u00e9rente l\u2019endroit qui a eu un tel impact sur la personne que je suis. Je ne me suis pas simplement content\u00e9 de r\u00e9fl\u00e9chir \u00e0 l\u2019impact qu\u2019avoir grandi l\u00e0-bas a eu sur moi, j\u2019ai aussi commenc\u00e9 \u00e0 pr\u00eater attention, de mani\u00e8re plus g\u00e9n\u00e9rale, aux relations g\u00e9ographiques entre les r\u00e9gions plus recul\u00e9es et les grands centres urbains ainsi qu\u2019aux aspects socio-\u00e9conomiques de ces relations tels qu\u2019ils pouvaient \u00eatre interpr\u00e9t\u00e9s au travers de l\u2019objectif d\u2019un appareil photo.<\/p>\n Les petites villes et communaut\u00e9s de l\u2019ouest canadien sont souvent per\u00e7ues comme ayant de grands d\u00e9savantages sur les plans \u00e9conomiques et sociaux compar\u00e9 \u00e0 des endroits o\u00f9 l\u2019on trouve d\u2019importantes entreprises financi\u00e8res et des larges soci\u00e9t\u00e9s, comme on en trouve dans les grands centres urbains. Malgr\u00e9 les obstacles g\u00e9ographiques qui en font des r\u00e9gions recul\u00e9es, ceux qui vivent ici jouent un r\u00f4le important dans la cr\u00e9ation des infrastructures sociales canadiennes, de la s\u00e9curit\u00e9 sociale \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9ducation pour tous. En tissant des liens communautaires solides et en cr\u00e9ant des conglom\u00e9rats coop\u00e9ratifs, les habitants de ces r\u00e9gions ont pu se d\u00e9fendre contre les grandes entreprises de l\u2019est canadien. (Il est important de noter \u00e0 cet effet que la province de la Saskatchewan fut la premi\u00e8re \u00e0 \u00e9lire un gouvernement socialiste en Am\u00e9rique du Nord dans les ann\u00e9es 40). Depuis lors, la r\u00e9gion a fait face \u00e0 de nombreux mouvements et changements \u00e9conomiques et id\u00e9ologiques. Mes projets photographiques ont pour but de rendre compte de mani\u00e8re visuelle de l\u2019ensemble de ces changements et influences qui ont fait de moi la personne que je suis et ont eu un important impact sur les gens et les lieux o\u00f9 j\u2019ai grandi.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Artist Statement<\/strong><\/p>\n Royal Cafe<\/em> is a photo-based documentary project that explores the prevalence of Chinese-Western cafes across small towns in rural Alberta. These cafes\u2014diner-style restaurants caught in an ambiguous time period\u2014reflect the identity of the communities they inhabit and are also indicative of a Canadian culinary identity. Although difficult to define, the hybrid nature of Canadian identity, and the rural identity in particular, can be highlighted through the merging of these two distinct cultures: Chinese and Western.<\/p>\n Mot de l\u2019artiste:<\/strong><\/p>\n Caf\u00e9 Royal<\/em> est un documentaire photographique qui explore la fr\u00e9quence de caf\u00e9s chinois dans les petites villes rurales de l\u2019Alberta. Ces caf\u00e9s, de type diners perdus dans une \u00e9poque ambigu\u00eb, sont une r\u00e9flexion de l\u2019identit\u00e9 des communaut\u00e9s qui les peuplent et sont aussi un excellent indicateur de l\u2019identit\u00e9 culinaire canadienne. Bien que difficile \u00e0 d\u00e9terminer, la nature hybride de l\u2019identit\u00e9 canadienne, et de l\u2019identit\u00e9 rurale en particulier, peut \u00eatre soulign\u00e9e par la fusion de ces deux cultures distinctes\u00a0: chinoise et de l\u2019ouest.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Artist Statement<\/strong><\/p>\n In a country as large as Canada, regional identity plays a significant role in our sense of who we are. I identify with being an Easterner and Maritimer, but I have lived in the Arctic, central Canada, and now \u201cOut West.\u201d While each move presented challenges, I struggled most with this one. Longing to belong, I search for triggers to memories of my \u201cprimal landscape.\u201d These images are a consideration of what might have been a shared history of human experience between an east-coast transplant and those who grew up in Saskatchewan.<\/p>\n Mot de l\u2019artiste:<\/strong><\/p>\n Dans un pays aussi grand que le Canada, l\u2019identit\u00e9 r\u00e9gionale joue un r\u00f4le important sur qui nous sommes. Je suis de l\u2019Est et des Maritimes, mais j\u2019ai v\u00e9cu dans l\u2019Arctique, au centre du Canada et maintenant \u00e0 l\u2019Ouest. Bien que chaque d\u00e9m\u00e9nagement ne soit pas sans inconv\u00e9nients le plus difficile \u00e0 g\u00e9rer fut ce dernier. A la recherche d\u2019un sens d\u2019appartenance, je recherche des \u00e9l\u00e9ments me renvoyant \u00e0 des souvenir de mon \u00ab\u00a0paysage primal.\u00a0\u00bb Ces images sont une consid\u00e9ration de ce qui peut \u00eatre partag\u00e9 entre un expatri\u00e9 de la c\u00f4te Est et ceux qui ont grandi en Saskatchewan.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Artist Statement<\/strong><\/p>\n During the summer of 2012, I participated in an artist residency at the Banff Centre in Canada\u2019s most visited national park. Growing weary of contributing to the oversaturation of nearly identical images that are produced by the everyday tourist, I chose to take a few steps back from the traditional viewpoint, to look at tourism from a quasi-anthropological perspective. In On How to View Landscape<\/em>, I used photo and video cameras to passively record the gestures and actions of tourists who are sightseeing. By shifting focus to the space of the viewer rather than the space being viewed, my work observes these places from a human perspective and on a human scale. The scenes that transpire are sometimes absurd, occasionally melancholic, but altogether banal\u2013reminders of when we may have stood in the same locations or struggled up the trail in search of an individual experience or moments of contemplation.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>Mot de l\u2019artiste:<\/strong><\/p>\n Pendant l\u2019\u00e9t\u00e9 2012, j\u2019ai fait partie des artistes en r\u00e9sidence au Banff Centre, le parc national canadien le plus visit\u00e9. Fatigu\u00e9e de contribuer \u00e0 la surproduction d\u2019images pratiquement identiques produites par les touristes de base, j\u2019ai d\u00e9cid\u00e9 de prendre du recul du point de vue coutumier et d\u2019\u00e9tudier le tourisme d\u2019un point de vue presque anthropologique. Dans Comment regarder un paysage<\/em>, j\u2019utilise la photo et la vid\u00e9o pour enregistrer les gestes et actions des touristes en visite. En changeant le centre d\u2019attention du paysage au spectateur, cette \u0153uvre \u00e9tudie ces espaces d\u2019un point de vue humain et \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9chelle humaine. Les sc\u00e8nes captur\u00e9es sont parfois absurdes, m\u00e9lancoliques mais dans l\u2019ensemble un rappel banal de ces moments o\u00f9 nous \u00e9tions peut-\u00eatre au m\u00eame endroit ou avons remont\u00e9 un sentier a la recherche d\u2019une exp\u00e9rience unique ou d\u2019un instant de contemplation.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Artist Statement<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>In the 1960s, Fort McKay First Nation, situated on the Athabasca River in Northern Alberta, had no roads connecting it to the rest of Canada. They sustained themselves through a traditional economy of hunting and trapping, as their ancestors practiced for generations. However, as community elder Zackary Powder says, \u201cIt\u2019s not like it used to be; everything has changed.\u201d Sleeping with the Devil<\/em> captures the transformation of a community torn between economic development and the endangerment of their land and traditions. Living in the heart of the Oil Sands, some are proud to participate in the economic prosperity, while others decry their powerlessness against environmental destruction.<\/p>\n Mot de l\u2019artiste:<\/strong><\/p>\n Dans les ann\u00e9es 60, la Premi\u00e8re Nation de Fort McKay, situ\u00e9e le long du fleuve Athabasca dans le nord de l\u2019Alberta, n\u2019\u00e9tait connect\u00e9 a par aucune route au reste du Canada. Une \u00e9conomie traditionnelle compos\u00e9e de chasse et de pi\u00e8ges leur permettait de subvenir \u00e0 leurs besoins comme leurs anc\u00eatres le faisaient depuis des g\u00e9n\u00e9rations. Cependant, comme l\u2019ancien Zachary Powder le dit\u00a0\u00ab\u00a0: les choses ne sont plus comme elles l\u2019\u00e9taient, tout a chang\u00e9.\u00a0\u00bb Dormir avec le Diable<\/em> documentes les transformations d\u2019une communaut\u00e9 aux prises avec le d\u00e9veloppement \u00e9conomique et le danger pos\u00e9 \u00e0 son territoire et ses traditions. Vivant au c\u0153ur des sables bitumineux, certains sont fiers de leur participation au d\u00e9veloppement \u00e9conomique alors que d\u2019autres d\u00e9plorent leur impuissance face \u00e0 la destruction environnementale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thomas Gardiner Artist Statement It wasn’t until having moved to the thriving metropolis of New York City that I began documenting the small towns and communities of western Canada where I grew up. In a sense, they’re partly biographical insofar as they represent places where I lived as a child and into my teens. However, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4062,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[130],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-7-1-north-by-west","wpautop"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p707hj-2mJ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imaginations.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imaginations.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imaginations.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imaginations.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4062"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imaginations.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9097"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/imaginations.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9098,"href":"https:\/\/imaginations.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9097\/revisions\/9098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imaginations.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imaginations.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imaginations.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Elyse Bouvier<\/h5>\n
trans.plant<\/h5>\n
Jessica Auer<\/h5>\n
Aaron Vincent Elkaim<\/h5>\n