Virginia Lee Hunter photographs the drifters and outsiders that have opted for life on the road in travelling carnivals. Her work captures the nostalgia one feel's towards fair grounds while also shows both the romanticized idealism of a carnival, contrasted with the somewhat grim reality.

1. What subject matter do you primarily choose to photograph, and why are you drawn to this subject matter?

I’m most curious and influenced by human subject matter that has several characteristics of spirit. The renegade, and the disenfranchised, which culminates as a subculture in terms of people. I’m fascinated by those who either choose, or through circumstances, find themselves standing apart from what is called the ‘mainstream of society’. Specifically, the carnival workers, and hoboes who ride freight trains, to name two sub-cultures I’ve been drawn to explore through my photography. I think because of their qualities of standing apart, a kind of romance grows upon the sub-culture like moss. In this moss grows lore, legend, songs and poetry, and photography. Also, by exploring sub-cultures in my photography, it helps me to understand humanity as a whole. The work I’ve chosen to show in CONTACT deals with the results of the carnival coming to town. The carnival, I’ve learned is a confluence of sub and pop culture. The images in Page’s Art Window show the effects of the carnival workers’ gift to small town America.

2. What do you hope to communicate to an audience through your work?

Specifically with this body of work about the Carnival and the carnival workers, I hope viewers will experience two thoughts. One- through capturing moments in the ever moving carnival experience, their own memory of their carnival experience is triggered, thus creating a collective memory of nostalgia the carnival manifests in our society. In other words paying homage to the carnival’s role in our pop society and heritage. Second- the role of ‘who’ the carnival worker is as part of our society. The aspect of the renegade, and free spirited which is part of our whole in the natural world. The book, CARNY;Americana on the Midway (offered at Pages) and the documentary film, CARNY, inspired by my book, and directed by Canadian filmmaker Alison Murray gives a more layered look to what I’m saying.

3. What are the biggest challenges you face in your work?

What I’m most attracted to photographing can be more challenging to infiltrate by being a woman. Having said this, once through the door, its also more accessible for a woman. There’s a bit of danger physically speaking with some unknown and unsavvery characters that roam within these circles that, as a female, one must avoid or handle very gingerly. When I first began working on the carnival project 10 years ago, I couldn’t afford a motel, so I slept outside in a tent on the grounds of the carnival amongst the troupes.My bed partner was a very large hunting knife. I learnt though that within both circles, there’s a sense of familial integrity and I felt well protected from within once I developed friendships. I helped them and they helped me. That’s just how one should play in life anyways.

4. What is it about the photographic medium that you love?

I absolutely love the camera and taking pictures as a meditation for my soul. More importantly, the camera allows me an excuse to venture into places I’m interested with an excuse, a purpose. I use it as a means to get into places and meet people I otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity due to my shyness. I think that might be true for many of us photographers.

5. What do you find to be the most rewarding aspect of your work?
Meeting people. By far, meeting people and experiencing life outside of my own. Then sharing these experiences with others through my images.

6. If you could choose three words to describe your work, what would they be?

Humanity, Connection, Emotion

7. What part of your portfolio are you most proud of and why?

I’m most proud of the overall achievement of discovering my voice. During this journey of some 28 years being with cameras, I didn’t intentionally set out with a motive nor voice. I’m not that savvy. I just shot projects that interested me- beginning with cowboys, then Indians, onto carnival workers, and train riding transients. It wasn’t till looking at the body of work after all these years did I then understand what I was seeking to say about society.

Exhibit runs from May 1 - 31 at Pages Bookstore, 256 Queen Street West

 

Webcams are a strange thing. They capture our most intimate private moments and then the images are instantaneously shot into a virtual world for all to see. What is it with this obsession? What kind of gratification or value comes from dispersing erotic or private shots into the technological abyss and why?

Cheryl Sourkes exhibit, Parking on Personal Webcams, examines these relationships and attempts to find visual beauty, intrigue and meaning through the images made by the sophisticated webcam tool, which produces crude yet visceral results.

1. What subject matter do you primarily choose to photograph, and why are you drawn to this subject matter?

All the work I’ve made this decade has originated in live-stream, Internet webcams. I’m interested in how the real world looks in the virtual world and vice versa, in what people choose to point their cameras at, and in what they’re willing to reveal. When I present this material in an art context, it gives an audience a chance to think about webcams in ways that are probably different from when they see them on the Internet.

2. What do you hope to communicate to an audience through your work?

My job as an artist is to pose questions. If I felt resolved about a thing, it wouldn’t inspire me to engage. Currently I’m provoked by thinking, “How are we changed by the ubiquitous presence of cameras and of ordinary life webcast in real-time?”

3. What are the biggest challenges you face in your work?

I photograph thousands of images. Thousands and thousands. When I’ve been watching a camera for a long time and somebody finally walks into the room, for an instant it’s very thrilling. I spend lots of time sorting through my archive. I find the greatest challenge is knowing what to do with my material, figuring out which images to use and how to produce them for exhibition. You know how people say, ’Artists suffer’? To my mind this is the juncture where suffering happens. You are alone with your material. You want to be true to it. You want it to communicate, and no one can help you. The uncertainty is anguishing. You are driven to resolve the work to obtain some peace of mind.

4. What is it about the photographic medium that you love?

The world is way deeper than any culture allows. It exceeds comprehension. When our worldview expands, it’s usually because we gain entry to an area between known categories. Photographing the world gives back more than we aim for. Plus the meaning of a photograph changes over time. In fifty years the most ordinary detail may become completely exotic.

5. What do you find to be the most rewarding aspect of your work?

I get to spend my time discovering! When I’m taking pictures I look at the world differently than when I’m living normal life. Normal life tends to be task-oriented. I find when I’m taking pictures I become more open to whatever’s happening in front of me. Also, part of my work is looking at pictures other people have made, now and throughout history. It’s a privilege. I’ve always found pictures very good company.

6. If you could choose three words to describe your work, what would they be?

Just three?

7. What part of your portfolio are you most proud of and why?

The early work I did with webcams was about surveillance. I suppose that was received wisdom. But as I kept looking I came to think webcams are more about people empowering themselves than people being scrutinized by authority. So I changed my approach. During the last few years I’ve worked with material from personal webcams. I’m proud of this work because I’m bringing a phenomenon forward for the public to consider while it is being invented and its influence on culture is still unknown.

Exhibit runs from April 30 - May 24
Peak Gallery
23 Morrow Avenue

Presenting three short films on her current photographic practice, Raffaela Mariniello will discuss the public installation of her photographs located at the Consulate General of Italy. Mariniello’s enchanting series, Souvenirs d’Italie, captures the essence of tourist destinations in Italy by revealing how their present and past histories effortlessly intermingle.

1. What subject matter do you primarily choose to photograph, and why are you drawn to this subject matter?

My work is based on urban landscape and I am drawn to this subject matter because of the description it lends on man's life. It is like doing a portrait without representingdirectly what it means to be a human being.

2. What do you hope to communicate to an audience through your work?

I hope to create a sensibility of social and architectural topics and to show problems found in contemporary cities. Cities are the common space we live in with others but they are often organized to satisfy only a part of society.

3. What are the biggest challenges you face in your work?

Being alone in organizing and managing my work. I dont' feel any private or public support, but I think artists should be helped to grow and develop love for art.

4. What is it about the photographic medium that you love?

The immediate feeling photos are able to convey.

5. What do you find to be the most rewarding aspect of your work?

Seeing someone happy while loooking at a photo of mine.

6. If you could choose three words to describe your work, what would they be?

History, beauty, work.

7. What part of your portfolio are you most proud of and why?

The book titled 'Bagnoli, una fabbrica' (Bagnoli, a factory). The photos are now historical documents, testifying an ended period of western industry.

Presentation will take place May 5 @ 6:30 PM - NEW LINE - Instituto Italiano di Cultura - NEW LINE - 491 Huron St - NEW LINE - Exhibit will run from May 1st - 31st at the Instituto Italiano di Cultura

Henrieta's portraits of Elvis impersonators are personal, outrageous and very entertaining. Beyond getting an up close look at these eccentric individuals, we are forced to think about and question the cult following that still maintains vibrancy and growth despite having been more than thirty years since the death of this iconic pop culture king.

1. What subject matter do you primarily choose to photograph, and why are you drawn to this subject matter?

People and everything they do. And if it's not people, it is something they have created, destroyed or left behind. Even in my travel photographs I look for human element, as it is the people that make up the place and it's culture.
There is beauty in everyone and face is a map of peoples lives, their experiences and emotions.

2. What do you hope to communicate to an audience through your work?

The connection between all of us. Regardless of background, race, age, wealth and many other things, we are all creatures with memories, hopes, desires, dreams, opinions. And there are more similarities than differences between us. I like finding groups of people with common interests and capturing their faces for posterity, for those uninvolved to get a little insight.

3. What are the biggest challenges youface in your work?

To gain enough trust from those I photograph within the short amount of time I have to get them at their best and to give them the sense of comfort that will allow them to let down their guard and let me capture their personality in an image. But at the same time this is one of the most enjoyable parts of doing this work.

4. What is it about the photographicmedium that you love?

I love the challenges it offers. Creative and technical are joined into one. Originally part of the process was chemistry as well, but now with digital photography the skills have shifted from darkroom to the computer. I love the immediacy of the creative process, it is an effort capture a moment. But the other really fun thing is the unpredictability and spontaneity that has to be expected when other people are involved.

5. What do you find to be the most rewarding aspect of your work?

Hearing positive response. It is very difficult for most of us to feel comfortable in front of the camera and just as difficult to look at photographs of ourselves and find anything we would like in them. To hear people say that they love a portrait I took of them is great to hear!

6. If you could choose three words to describe your work, what would they be?

Intimate, revealing and fun

7. What part of your portfolio are you most proud of and why?

At the moment my series of portraits of Elvis Tribute Artists I photographed last Summer at the Collingwood Elvis Festival. I am showing them this year in the Contact Festival and I am especially excited about the fact that Contact is featuring my work this year and it is my first solo show.

I don't know of another performer that has had the same kind of following as Elvis and whose life and car eer created this kind of phenomena. The number of Elvis impersonators and Tribute Artists is growing , even 30 years after the man's tragic death. I think the dedication and efforts of these people are admirable. The competition is fierce and demands preparation, costumes and a lot of time and resources. And the spectacle of Elvises of all shapes and sizes walking around the same strip of street at the same time is such a fun experience! I used the advantages of my profession to give others an intimate peak into their faces.
On Thursday May 1st at the Gladstone hotel we will open the show with live performances by five Elvis Tribute Artist, the youngest of them is only 12 years old!

I AM ELVIS exhibit opening May 1, 7-10 PM @ The Gladstone Hotel
Expect five different Elvis impersonators, the youngest being twelve years old!
Exhibit runs May 1st - 31st
Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St. W

Ryoko Suzuki's work in Anikora Seifuko examines the effects and impact of Japanese anime culture on society. Anime illustrations and characters, like Sailor Moon, are highly sexualized and provocative and by superimposing her own face to each anime character, Ryoko examines the impact of this culture on herself. In turn, we are forced to question a cultures response as a whole to these characters, and specifically the impact on young girls.

Colourful, fun and sassy - Ryoko's tongue in cheek work is sexual and raises important questions surrounding sexual identity.

1. What subject matter do you primarily choose to photograph, and why are you drawn to this subject matter? 

My focus is consistently set on "Human being".  For me, the most important aspect is "being human". 

2. What do you hope to communicate to an audience through your work?

Present-day life carries a lot of information and we continue to try to connect ourselves. But, somehow it is not the real world. I hope audiences can use some of my work as a tool, in order to look at our present lives more carefully. 

3. What are the biggest challenges you face in your work? 

Every new exhibition for example, appears as a new hurdle I have to take, its challenging, to travel to distant places, constantly communicating with new people on a sophisticated level. 

4. What is it about the photographic medium that you love? 

Because I can utilize photographic technique in a neutral manner.

5. What do you find to be the most rewarding aspect of your work? 

To meet people in the art field, which basically does avoid borders or narrow standpoints, and which nourishes tolerance. 

6. If you could choose three words to describe your work, what would they be? 

human, female, mirror. 

7. What part of your portfolio are you most proud of and why? 

I actually am proud of each of my works; I am developing my experience by practicing all of my art.

Opening Reception, May 3, 2 PM - 5PM @ Corkin Gallery
Exhibit runs from May 1st - 31st
Corkin Gallery, 55 Mill St, Bldg 61

It is almost as though when Nathalie looks through a camera lens, the world directly in front of her begins to dance into the magical world she wants to see. Ordinary people take on story book like characters and realities are twisted into fantasies. She finds the magic, romanticism and eroticism in just about everything; it is obvious that she has an exciting and sophisticated imagination. Looking at her work is a playful entry into an unknown world and the process she has taken to create this world seems to have been an incredibly enjoyable experience which resonates strongly.

Nathalie manipulates her work both digitally and in the darkroom resulting in highly texturized images that take on movement. After finishing school in Montreal in '99, Nathalie picked up and moved to NYC and entrenched herself in her work, which was a discovery process intertwined with her new surroundings and personal growth. She completed a series of photos taken in the Carlton Arms Hotel, and this was later published into a book entitled, "New York Hotel Story".

1. What subject matter do you primarily choose to photograph, and why are you drawn to this subject matter?

Mostly the Fantasy world, where people go to escape from every day life (like the love hotels in japan or frozen in time, images from the Suisse alps). Including professions that entertain the escapements of others.. (my street kiss project on a brothel in Brazil and Tokyo girls, foreign erotic dancers)
All my project s have been made in a foreign land ; I try to find people – places that are not seen every day , thing s that I am curious to learn more about.

2. What do you hope to communicate to an audience through your work?

A feeling of escapement to another world and a certain intimacy.

3. What are the biggest challenges you face in your work?

Finding a dark room. I only work with analog photography. M any of my artistic techniques are done in the darkroom and since digital is taking over , most of the darkrooms I know have closed. Analog material is also slowly disappearing.

4. What is it about the photographic medium that you love?

It captures reality while still being able to transform it.

5. What do you find to be the most rewarding aspect of your work?

The human contact. Having a camera has helped me to photograph interesting people, to spend a moment in time with them and learn more about who they really are and what they do. I have been to so many places that I could not have gone without having the excuse of being a photographer.

6. If you could choose three words to describe your work, what would they be?

This question is just too difficult for me.

7. What part of your portfolio are you most proud of and why?

New York Hotel story, it was my first project, I had just left Canada to move to NY and everything was new ; photography, traveling, meeting and seeing new interesting places-people. The images won quite a few prizes and were published into a book.
www.newyorkhotelstory.com

Entre Quatre Murs, Berlin Exhibition Opening Reception - May 9, 7PM - 11PM
Exhibition runs from May 2nd - June 7th
Hamilton Artists Inc
161 James St. North, Hamilton

OCAD graduate Kirsten White's photos are playful examinations of the curiosities and humanizing realities learned through coming of age. Themes like depression are dealt with humour and care in an effort to bring comfort and point out commonality amongst humans. Her photographs in the series, "Lashes of Love" take a closer look at the rituals played out by couples, and again poignantly and with wit bring comfort by showing how presumed private (and perhaps fetish like) acts, are in fact universal. Her work evokes both laughter and discourse surrounding uncomfortable subject matter.

1. What subject matter do you primarily choose to photograph, and why are you drawn to this subject matter?

Since I am a jack of all trades when it comes to genre's of photography I'd say I like to take a lighter look at more touchy issues. With both bodies of work I have in CONTACT this year I deal with very seperate subjects but in a very similar way , and likewise with a touch of humour. I think humour helps everyone relate, even to issues's like depression or death that they may not have experienced first hand.

2. What do you hope to communicate to an audience through your work?

With "No Peek-A-Boo Please" I want to communicate that depression is rampant in this generation and that feeling isolated isn't singular ; many people are suffering. I hope those photo's open up a dialogue about that isolation that so many people put themselves threw.
With " Lashes of Love" , as done with my partner Paul Sergeant , I want to communicate how coupling rituals that don't deal directly with seduction are rare. I feel that back scratching is intimate enough that maybe only a partner could do it, but at the same time it holds some soft fetishism in it. The act of creating visual violence , but not becoming violent , is something that holds the ideals of soft fetishism . As this fetish is not often explored this body of work also gave that sexual genre a voice.

3. What are the biggest challenges you face in your work?

I'm finding that as long as I set out with a well thought out concept , the creative making process becomes relativ e ly easy. The main challenge is not beating myself up over trying to find humour in everything.

4. What is it about the photographic medium that you love?

I love that it means one thing to one person, and can be inte r pretted differently by everyone, while also having the power to connec t you similarly through feel ing and emotion.

5. What do you find to be the most rewarding aspect of your work?

I like making myself laugh , even after slaving away over an image for days - I still see its hilarity and that is rewarding.

6. If you could choose three words to describe your work, what would they be?

FUN AS HELL.

7. What part of your portfolio are you most proud of and why?

A body of work I did two years ago called "The Cockenspiel". I played with Freud's Second Theory of Development , the Phalic Stage , and people's uncomfortablness with the penis ( real or fake) and created a learning guide of how to play the glockenspiel if you were directed with your penis. Even now when I see the work I think how odd my mind must be for stuff like this to come out in photographic form , plus I laughed the whole time making it.
I felt bad for my model's sometimes.

Exhibit runs May 1st - 31st
Opening Reception May 1, 7:00 PM - 11:45 PM
Lens Factory
1036 Queen St. W