SNEAK PEEK: Andrea Alkalay

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Andrea Alkalay, from the "Urban Territories" series, 2016-2017

Argentinian conceptual photographer Andrea Alkalay is displaying works about gated communities in Buenos Aires at Billboard 208, a programming site on the exterior of Calgary’s New Gallery until July 31. 

“I photograph these walls as geopolitical landforms, frontiers that separate private properties and rank neighbourhoods, harshly altering the urban landscape,” says Alkalay. 

“Though these walls express distinct traces of what they hide or expose, patterns emerge in the uniformity, where everything becomes alike in their differences.”

Part of her Urban Territories series, the black-and-white photographs feature a large mirror that reflects back the world outside the wall.

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Andrea Alkalay’s “Urban Territories” is installed outside the New Gallery in Calgary.

The effect is that of a breach, opening the wall with a view of that which has been excluded, and in some cases, creating the illusion of an inviting passageway.

There’s a satisfying circularity in displaying the images on the downtown gallery’s exterior wall. 

While the photographs were taken a continent away, gated communities know no geographic boundary and are found in affluent districts in many countries, including Canada. ■ 

Urban Territories is on view outside the New Gallery in Calgary from May 19 to July 31, 2020.

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