Jeudi 21 Janvier 2016 10:41:17 par Caroline Bertolino dans Expositions

The Ryerson Image Centre (RIC) celebrates contemporary female artists with three exhibitions featuring Wendy Snyder MacNeil, Spring Hurlbut and Izabella Pruska-Oldenhof, as well as a display of work by Elaine Ling. Using a variety of media, including photography, video installation and experimental film, these artists explore universal themes, such as portraiture, mortality and the displacement of people. The exhibitions are on view from January 20 to April 10, 2016, with the opening party on January 20 from 6 pm to 8 pm.

© Wendy Snyder MacNeil, Adrian Sesto, 1988. From the series Hands. Platinum-palladium prints on tracing vellum. Wendy Snyder MacNeil Archive, Ryerson Image Centre

This exhibition brings renewed attention to the art and influence of pioneering American photographer and educator Wendy Snyder MacNeil (b. 1943), whose archive is preserved in the collection of the Ryerson Image Centre. MacNeil’s austere, compelling images contributed significantly to the North American photography scene during a period of great experimentalism in the 1970s and 1980s. Her early documentary projects include a photo/text project chronicling the vendors of Boston’s Haymarket district and searing images of Irish itinerants. MacNeil’s expressive portraits often pushed formal boundaries, portraying identity through composite arrangements of imagery or seeking a more direct engagement between subject and viewer through the creation of unique, hand-made prints. An accompanying catalogue presents MacNeil’s work in the context of essays by curator Don Snyder, the artist’s brother and longtime collaborator, as well as art historian Eugenia Parry and others.

© Wendy Snyder MacNeil, Tom Roddy's Hands, 1968-70. From the series Haymarket. Gelatin silver print, mounted on masonite. Wendy Snyder MacNeil Archive, Ryerson Image Centre