Brady Simpson: Special Guest Post

Alexis Marie: I have loved sharing the stories and inspirations of some truly interesting individuals during the InFocus 2016 show. Are you excited? Even through InFocus 2016 is already underway, it is not too early to begin preparing for InFocus 2017! In the fall, we will release the call for submissions and we would love to see your work. For now, I’m pleased to introduce one of our current and talented photographers, Brady Simpson.

Welcome Brady!

Guest Post

Confinement

In August of 2015 I attended the Arteles Creative Centre in Hämeenkyrö, Finland. Navigating through Europe is very easy and relatively cheap, so I decided to visit Estonia while I was in Europe, amongst a smattering of other places. The round trip train ticket to Stockholm and back was 24 euros, and the ferry across the Gulf of Finland was 50. Within a few hours you’re in an entirely different country and culture…bliss.

Group Meeting

Group Meeting

 

Infirmary

Infirmary

Estonia is still recovering from the hangover that was the Soviet era and still maintains many pieces of soviet architecture. Tallinn has a walled centre called Old Town that stems back to the 13th century with its walls largely still in tact. This is why it is a world heritage site but it provides an amazing experience. You have a beautiful walled city, cobblestone winding streets, and stunning architecture surrounded by these peppered remnants of the Soviet Union. One of these remnants is the Patarei Prison or it’s English translation, the Battery, and for 2 euros, you can wander the remains of a complex that began construction in 1828 under Tzar Nicholas I. It is a glimpse into hell.

Accomodation

Accomodation

The basement of this prison is where I took the photo featured in the InFocus exhibition. Of the same name as the series, Confinement encapsulates the entire experience of wandering this prison. The KGB favoured basement rooms such as this for their high moisture content, it’s a choking heavy air, a type of psychological torture. The low ceilings are heavily populated with arches to maintain the massive girth of itself and windows do little more than indicate if it’s day or night.

Confinement

Confinement

Patarei Prison is right on the shoreline of Estonia’s capital city Tallinn but you’d never know it by walking the halls. The higher floors offer higher ceilings and a little more light, but there is one thing that is common throughout these buildings, they are incredibly silent, no birds, no waves crashing, just silence. After leaving the prison I had a very heavy feeling, an almost need to enjoy my freedom after being within those walls. I grabbed some deli meat from a nearby store, along with some bread and cheese, and made my lunch in a scenic park back in Tallinn’s Old Town to cleanse my pallet with beautiful scenery. Incarceration is an incredibly complicated topic and I know leniency isn’t the public’s favourite dish when it comes to prisoners. But taking a look at Patarei Prison made me ask how we expect people to get better when we put them in places like this? Is it because we don’t want to help, we just want the problem hidden? Whatever the case may be, I hope places like the Battery will remain relics of the past.

Inmate 253

Inmate 253

Website: https://bradysimpson.com/
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Hedy Bach: Special Guest Post

Alexis Marie: I have loved sharing the stories and inspirations of some truly interesting individuals during the InFocus 2016 show. Are you excited? Even through InFocus 2016 is already underway, it is not too early to begin preparing for InFocus 2017! In the fall, we will release the call for submissions and we would love to see your work. For now, I’m pleased to introduce one of our current and talented photographers, Hedy Bach.

Welcome Hedy!

Guest Post

As an imagemaker I study how things look and sound. I work daily with my camera and words to compose beautiful “thought things” as one way to form ideas to inspire reflection and rumination, perhaps start a conversation.

My photographs are almost all allegories about my understandings of human desire for settlement…of spaces and places in which people and things fit together. I try to negotiate my subjectivities of looking and composing my “thought things” with Scruton’s ideas of why beauty matters…to see the remedy of beauty as an instrument of peace.

On 12/6/15 I received a happy email from Alexis Marie Chute for this InFocus 2016 exhibition. I am humbled that my image entitled ‘Mason’ was chosen to be part of this years exhibit.

“Mason” 2015

“Mason” 2015

Steve Butler’s apartment number movie

Sometimes BUT not always I see sounds first…when I saw this Mason jar at the Fort Edmonton…the words from Connor Zwetsch’s song “Candy Bars” came into my mind’s eye…

whisky and coke in our mason jars
to the year’s sweeter than candy bars
we crumble like the leaves

 In the room I imagined a “thought thing” for my blog post, which started conversations…here is one.

“Hi Hedy, I like the question mark that seems to follow that [Mason] image of yours for me. I felt like someone was just there. And yet it seemed deserted and it made me wonder what they were doing, and what did they do there, and was the water clean in an old jar or was it dirty water and why? Also I thought of Mason as in Stonemason, Mason bee, and of course mason jar. One definition I saw online was “to build from or strengthen with stone” and for me that was an interesting image next to the centerpiece of something made of glass. Anyway I enjoyed thinking about your photograph and all the different thoughts I had in doing so.”

“I’ve got icicles hanging” 2015

“I’ve got icicles hanging” 2015

distance between Earth and the star Polaris in light years

it’s too quiet in here
and i’m beginning to freeze
i’ve got icicles hanging
from my knees
under fifteen feet of pure white snow (Nick Cave, 2001)

“Hold your breath” 2015

“Hold your breath” 2015

number of solar days in the mean tropical year

“Look carefully at the little girls you are teaching, Hedy, many will go missing or be murdered.”

These Elder’s staggering words have lingered for 10 years and continue to haunt me.

When I think of our missing and murdered Aboriginal women if not now, when? My image is part of The REdress Photography project lead by Mufty Mathewson.

“U” 2015

“U” 2015

http://hedybach.tumblr.com/post/129449278387/u-hedybach

In celebration of St. Albert Photography Club’s 25th anniversary in 2017, my image ‘U” was selected for their submission to the ‘Art Gallery of St Albert’ art show.

“In my camera bag” 2015

“In my camera bag” 2015

http://www.streethunters.net/blog/2015/10/26/inside-hedy-bachs-camera-bag/

 

Hedy Bach is an award winning visual researcher, writer, and imagemaker. Hedy’s first book A Visual Narrative Concerning Curriculum, Girls, Photography Etc. was published in 1998 and explores the evaded curriculum in the lived experiences of high school girls through photography and story. Currently, she is working on a narrative nonfiction entitled Emeline which is a graphic novel being created by cutting up and reorganizing illustrations from cultural artifacts, photography, and literature.

http://sloppybuddhist.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hedybach

http://hedybach.tumblr.com/

https://500px.com/hbach

InFocus 2016 Opening Reception!

The InFocus 2016 opening reception took place on February 4. It was a wonderful event with over 250 people in attendance! There was great food, drink, and conversation! Alexis Marie spoke fondly of all the work presented in the show during the curator’s talk and it spurred on a great deal of conversation afterwards. It was a wonderful event!  Take a look at some of the images below.

InFocus 001 InFocus 002 InFocus 003 InFocus 004 InFocus 005InFocus 007 InFocus 008

 

Also, we want to send out a HUGE congratulations to Aidan Guerra for winning the 2016 People’s Choice Award! His image, Eye of the Storm, is a spectacular piece. Vistek was proud to hand over the prize of a $250 gift certificate during the event. Great job Aidan!

Eye of the Storm

Eye of the Storm, by Aidan Guerra

InFocus 006

 

Finally, the show continues to run for the month of February. The gallery is open Wednesday through Saturday. Make sure to stop by and see the show! It is located at dc3 Art Projects (10567 111 St NW, Edmonton, AB T5H).

Thank you to everyone who came to the opening and the photographers who made this show possible!

InFocus Photo Exhibit Opening Reception this Thursday

It was an exciting weekend! Not only did we hang the InFocus Photo Exhibit at dc3 Art Projects, but our InFocus People’s Choice Award voting came to a close. The voting was a close race all month. In the end, there were over 2,000 votes cast online. I am so excited to announce the winner. That will take place during my Curator Talk at the opening reception.

InFocus Photo Exhibit 2016 Alexis Marie Chute Curator 01

 

Alexis Marie & Aaron Chute, the core InFocus Team.

Alexis Marie & Aaron Chute, the core InFocus Team.

InFocus Photo Exhibit 2016 Alexis Marie Chute Curator 02

A big thank-you to Vistek, our InFocus People’s Choice Award sponsor.

Vistek_ InFocus Photo Exhibit Peoples Choice Award


InFocus Photo opening reception:

Thursday, February 4, 6-9PM
Curator Talk 7PM
dc3 Art Projects
10567 – 111 Street
Edmonton, AB

2016-INVITE-back-012 done 150dpi dc3


 

Last week I spoke about InFocus on Global morning news. Here is the interview.

I hope to see you Thursday night!

InFocus Photo Exhibit 2016 Alexis Marie Chute Invite