An Invested Nature: Contemporary Photography in the Permanent Collection

Selected from recent acquisitions in the Gallery's permanent collection, this exhibition featured the photographic works of Marlene Creates, Lorraine Gilbert and Susan McEachern. Each artist, through her unique perspective and concerns, creates a space for reflection on the impact of human culture on the "natural" - and vice versa. Creates examines the histories and myths accrued to the land and water, while ordering a view of nature that reveals its form and design (and therefore beauty). Gilbert portrays tree-planters in a manner recalling the heroism of early pioneers, while also photographing the eerily beautiful scars of rapacious clear-cutting. McEachern's works (layered as are both nature and human culture) address a wilderness experience through which we may come to know ourselves and others. The accompanying illustrated brochure included an essay by artist/educator Ian McKinnon.