A visual art exhibit celebrating innovation in photography and lenswork is arriving at the Karsh-Masson gallery at city hall this month.
The Karsh Continuum exhibition, which only occurs every four years, is open to the public beginning on Thursday. The exhibition hosts emerging visual artists working with a photography-based medium.
The participating artists were curated by Andrew Wright, the 2019 recipient of the prestigious Karsh Award, which is given in honour of the Karsh brothers for their significant contributions to Ottawa’s cultural and artistic landscape.
In conversation with the City of Ottawa, Wright explained why he selected the artists.
“All three artists engage with photography in an expanded sense,” says Wright. “Recognizing both the utility and the limitations of photography’s established traditions and conceits, they continue to make poignant works where photography is an important yet constituent part of their significance.”
The three chosen artists will have the opportunity to be mentored by Wright, who won the award in 2019 for his artistic manipulation of light and reflection using natural materials.
The 2022 artists selected to participate in the exhibition are Stéphane Alexis, Shelby Lisk, and Neeko Paluzzi.
Alexis is a Caribbean-Canadian artist based in Ottawa. In his artwork, he combines his own lived experiences and those of “different people and communities that are tucked away due to the hardships they face." The work he has on display is a series of conceptual portraits using chicken feet, entitled Poultry.
“I would like people to be curious, to look at these images and to think again about what they are seeing and what it can mean,” says Alexis. “Ideally, they would say, ‘Chicken feet? I didn’t realize that they could look like that,’ or ‘I had no idea they look so similar to human hands.' So, in this context, they might have to rethink their assumptions about what they thought they already knew.”
Lisk is a Tyendinaga Mohawk multidisciplinary artist, filmmaker and photographer from Kenhtè:ke. Her art tells a story about her family and culture, and combines traditional Haudenosaunee art styles with contemporary photography.
Her project for the Karsh Exhibition, called tó na’tesohseriyà:kon, combines traditional beadwork with family photos, each piece representing a different phrase in Mohawk.
“I feel like this project is more about offering ‘the dominant culture’ another way to think,” says Lisk. “That there are other ways to do things. And these ways come from the language of this place, and the land here. These can be ways for all of us.”
Queer Canadian artist and educator Paluzzi is based in Ottawa. His work contains both traditional and modern elements, described as “intertextual, photo-based installations.” His exhibition project, entitled On the nature of time, is “a visualization of an infamous debate” between Albert Einstein and twentieth century philosopher Henri Bergson.
“What people see is a video of two faces on top of each other, discussing together, and debating their opposing views concerning the nature of time,” says Paluzzi. “The video is reacting to itself, and every time you watch it will be slightly different. What I hope is that if someone were to see it once they might have an idea what time is, how it might be described - but when they come back and see it again, the idea that they initially had could be changed as a result of what they’ve newly seen.”
Each of the three artists’ work will be on display at the Karsh-Masson gallery until April 1. A free tour of the exhibition and the artwork on display will take place in-person on March 13 at 2 p.m.
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