Before Digital: Post 1970 Photography in Alberta

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Before Digital: Post 1970 Photography in Alberta

Opening Reception Thursday, January 17, 2019 5:00 PM  - 8:00 PM

Please join us for the opening reception of Before Digital: Post-1970 Photography in Alberta at the Illingworth Kerr Gallery. Remarks at 6:30pm.

Before Digital displays what is beautiful, unusual, striking and surprising about taking photographs as it was done for over 150 years, without computer technology. Before Digital focuses on artists working in analogue within Alberta since the 1970s. Featured in the exhibition are over 80 photographs in black and white, colour, infra-red, cyan-blue and in video, as well as an artist book, a hand-made camera and mobile darkroom.

Long before people were using smartphones as cameras, photographers were documenting their lives and the lives of others. Although all working in analogue, the artists in this exhibition demonstrate a wide variety of approaches through their process, ranging from highly technical to playful, spontaneous, and performative. Their photographs tell stories that are engaging and moving: some deeply reflective of places and communities often unseen or on the margins, others in urban settings, the Rockies, or even in the photographer’s imagination.

Presented in partnership between Contemporary Calgary and the Illingworth Kerr Gallery at the Alberta College of Art and Design, Before Digital: Post-1970 Photography in Alberta is a sweeping survey of discovery, exploration, humour and personal expression.

Featuring works by Randall Adams, Dianne Bos, Douglas Clark, Don Corman, Diane Colwell, Douglas Curran, John Fukushima, Hubert Hohn, Dan Hudson, M.N.Hutchinson, Carol Johnston, Sima Khorrami, Ernie Kroeger, Don Mabie, Arthur Nishimura, Ingrid Plaudis, Garth Rankin, Craig Richards, Orest Semchishen, Colin Smith, Ed Spiteri, Barbara Spohr, Sandra Vida, George Webber, John Will and from The Mobile Darkroom: Shane Arsenault and Natalia Barberis.

Mary-Beth Laviolette, Guest Curator

Depth of Field: Practices in Contemporary Photography

Wednesday February 6, 2pm-7pm Stanford Perrot Lecture Theatre, AUArts (formerly Alberta College of Art + Design)Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Before Digital: Post 1970 Photography in Alberta, guest-curated by Mary-Beth Laviolette, this symposium will feature presentations and panel discussions with artists participating in the exhibition as well as regional artists utilizing photography in their practice.

2pm – 3:35pm Continuity and Change within Photographymoderated by Mitch KernPanellists: Shane Arsenault and Natalia Barberis, M.N. Hutchinson, Dona SchwartzOver two centuries the medium of photography has endured continuous change. You could say that when it comes to photography, continuity is change. At the same time, some things about photography have remained the same. This panel explores the territory between continuity and change within photography. In particular, what is the impact of recent change upon contemporary photography practice? Has social media and 24/7 connectivity significantly altered what it means to be a photographer in the early 21st century? What about the near future? Are we on the doorstep of something new? In the midst of a revolution? A crisis?

3:50pm – 5:10pm Capturing Subjects, Exposing Communitymoderated by Ashley ScarlettPanellists: Douglas Curran, Elmer Ghostkeeper, Leah Hennel, George WebberIn her canonical text, On Photography, Susan Sontag asserts that “photographs furnish evidence. Something we hear about, but doubt, seems proven when we’re shown a photograph of it” (1973:3). While Sontag concerns herself primarily with photography’s indexical documentation of the visible world, photographic images also have the capacity to render the invisible intelligible, lending photographic certainty to the seemingly uncertain. This panel will explore photography’s capacity to expose, envision, construct and concretize the otherwise invisible parameters of community. Specifically, it will ask: What role does photography play in capturing, documenting and attesting to community? How might the photographic medium lend itself to exposing and framing community in particular ways? What are the ethical responsibilities of the photographer within this context? And, can photographs solicit meaningful social engagement and change?

5:30pm – 6:50pm Not Boring - Landscapes, Places and Identitiesmoderated by Benedict FullalovePanellists: Diane Colwell, Tanya Harnett, Dan Hudson, Tyler Los-JonesIn his contribution to the important 1994 collection, Landscape and Power, WJT Mitchell proposes a series of theses on the genre, including the mischievous claim that “Landscape is boring. We must not say so.” This panel asks its participants to eschew silence and respond to Mitchell’s provocation. Specifically, the panel seeks to explore the complex relationships formed around and between landscapes, places and identities. What links landscape to place? How do they differ? In what sense do both intersect with broader questions of subjectivity and identity, not least in the contexts of Indigenous and Settler histories? And why is all of this (potentially!) not really boring at all?

Following the symposium, join us for a reception at 7pm and extended gallery hours to 9pm

Curator's Tour with Mary-Beth Laviolette