MAY 2 - 24
JEFF HARRIS: 3,653 SELF PORTRAITS
BROOKFIELD PLACE, ALLEN LAMBERT GALLERIA
In the grand atrium of Brookfield Place, this exhibition’s massive grid of images celebrates a ten-year milestone in Jeff Harris’s personal photo project. Since January 1, 1999, Harris has made at least one photograph of himself every day. Soon after, he started posting them on the internet. Harris’ project anticipates the current obsession taken up by millions of people to document and make public every aspect of their lives on Facebook, Flickr and similar sites. Harris’ photographs are selfportraits in the broadest definition of the term. Sometimes the images contain only the barest trace of the subject – the artist’s feet, shadow or his reflection on a table – and as often as not the portraits of Harris have been taken by other people (the artist frequently has celebrities he happens to encounter take his picture – Gene Simmons, Michael Moore, Leslie Feist). Seen together, the 3,653 images provide an evocative portrayal of how Harris’ life plays out, day after day. Whether the social media giants will continue to flourish remains to be seen; meanwhile, Jeff Harris’ website has a huge following and he plans to keep on shooting.
Daily 6AM – 2AM - 181 Bay St
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APR 25 - MAY 23
ALISON ROSSITER: LAMENT
STEPHEN BULGER GALLERY
Alison Rossiter has worked with the materials and processes of light-sensitive, gelatin silver-based photography since 1970. Her exhibition Lament pays homage to the disappearing materials of analogue photography, as the global shift from photochemical processing gives rise to digitization. Rossiter’s luminous images rely on the intrinsic qualities of expired photographic papers from throughout the 20th century that are now part of our history. Processing these papers, she reveals years of incidental exposure, moisture, humidity and physical disruption, resulting in a latent imagery that has been coaxed to life. This project would have been unimaginable just two decades ago when graded gelatin silver papers of every variety were still widely available. Transforming the medium that was once used to realistically document a fleeting moment, Rossiter abstractly depicts the passage of time.
1026 Queen St W
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MAY 1 - 31
BETTINA HOFFMANN: EMILE
ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO - YOUNG GALLERY
Bettina Hoffmann composes everyday scenes to explore how still photographs and cinematography create and communicate space, characters and narrative. In the two-channel video projection Émile (2008), only the video camera moves: it slowly revolves around children and teenagers, who remain completely still, fixed like sculptures or subjects in a snapshot. The title, Émile, refers to philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s controversial 1762 treatise on human nature, education and the relationship between individuals and society. Hoffmann suggests parallels between the emergence of democracy, photography and film, and burgeoning adulthood. In the work, details come into view – of furniture, bodies, gestures and expressions – but it is impossible to grasp the whole scene. From these fragments, potent moments of adolescence and its turbulence emerge.
Born in Berlin, Hoffmann is currently based in Montreal. She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally, most recently at the Québec Triennial 2008, organized by the Musée d’art contemporain, Montreal, and at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago. Émile will be on view in the Young Gallery, adjacent to the AGO’s restaurant, Frank. Admission is free.
Curated by Sophie Hackett.
Also on view at the AGO is Connecting with Photography: Ongoing Dialogues, selections from the permanent photography collection, in the Betty Ann & Fraser Elliott Gallery.
317 Dundas St
