A sportsman's guide to gallery-going Mois de la photo: 100 artists in 30 days by KEITH MARCHAND
The following is a selection of just some of the many shows featured during Mois de la photo that have caught my attention. This list is by no means official and should not be used for the purpose of wagering. Shelby Lee Adams: Appalachian Portraits. Galerie Vox For the past 25 years, Shelby Lee Adams has photographed the isolated and economically depressed Appalachian communities of eastern Kentucky. Originally from Kentucky, Adams captures a people who maintain very little connection to modern mainstream America. The portraits are done with respect and pathos, effectively portraying a people who have fallen through the cracks of America's social and economic infrastructure. These often-disturbing images depict the truly marginal without relying on the emotional manipulation or sensationalism often seen in the chronicling of the so-called socially disadvantaged. Various artists: The Dead. Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts As the title would suggest, this exhibition is all about the photographic portrayal of death. The show has brought together the work of 16 artists from an international field and gives a fascinating look at the manner in which death has been chronicled and explored (through the lens) in different societies over time. The photograph as memento mori? Gabor Szilasi: Photographs 1954-1996. Montreal Museum of Fine Arts This show marks the first retrospective of one of the most influential figures on the contemporary Canadian photographic scene. This comprehensive exhibition--with over 120 photos in black and white and colour--showcases the work of this Hungarian-born artist, tracing his documentary-style pictures of rural Quebec of the 1960s and leading up to his later, more introspective work. This is a chance to see a Quebec that has long since disappeared, through the work of a Canadian photographic pioneer. Tina Modotti: 1924-1930. Maison de la culture Côte-des-Neiges This exhibition is an homage to Tina Modotti, the actress, activist, femme fatale, feminist and celebrated photographer of the late 1920s. In a time when photography was considered a manly domain, Modotti managed to carve out and establish a long-lasting and worthy reputation by living among and photographing the Mexican revolutionaries of the time. Contemporary Catalan Photography. Strathearn Centre Always at the forefront of Iberian culture but little-known in Canada, Catalonia has contributed to 20th-century photography on a global scale. This exhibition gives us a chance to see this politically and culturally volatile region from the 1920s to the present. Arborescences In a discipline that is finding more and more artists moving toward electronic media, the organizers of the Mois de la photo have created a Web site featuring goodies such as an artist catalogue, archives and art works. You can find all this at http://www.cam.org/~vpopuli/arbo running from Sept. 1-Oct. 31. |
Photography buffs take note: from September 5 to October 15 the fifth edition of the Mois de la photo à Montréal will take place on a scale that could only be described as massive. Involving more than 100 artists and taking place at over 40 sites around Montreal, this biennial exhibition, which began in 1989, is unique in Canada. This year's ambitious program will feature a wide range of photographic production from Canada and abroad. With equal emphasis on traditional methodology as well as post-analog production, the Mois de la photo is offering more variety than ever before. For the first time, the event has secured a central base of operations--the Marché Bonsecours in Old Montreal--in which visitors may pick up programs, attend lectures, meet the artists and see an exhibition on photographic magazines.