For the Mois de la Photo, curator Alfredo Jaar has assembled the work of documentary photographers worldwide for a very ambitious show. Inferno et Paradiso, at the Maison de la Culture Frontenac, culls together works by 18 photo-journalists, and represents two extremes of the human condition: Hell and Heaven. Each photographer has submitted one picture for each extreme. The photos are projected on to the gallery walls as a set (the Heaven photographs together, likewise the Hell ones). After 18 minutes, the set switches.
The quality of the photographs is uneven; some are a little trite, but others are stunning records of human emotion. The real kick of the exhibition, however, is the moment of the switch: the room goes black, and you find yourself suddenly in the midst of profound human suffering--or salvation. At 2550 Ontario E., until Oct. 14.
For the Mois de la Photo, curator Alfredo Jaar has assembled the work of documentary photographers worldwide for a very ambitious show. Inferno et Paradiso, at the Maison de la Culture Frontenac, culls together works by 18 photo-journalists, and represents two extremes of the human condition: Hell and Heaven. Each photographer has submitted one picture for each extreme. The photos are projected on to the gallery walls as a set (the Heaven photographs together, likewise the Hell ones). After 18 minutes, the set switches.