An exhibition of work by Arnold Koroshegyi, Victoria Piersig, Andreas Rutkauskas and Kathy Toth, with archival photography acquired from United Steelworkers Local 1005 and from the private collection of Stephen Lechniak.
In the 20th century, industrial photography was a key component of the project of Canadian nation-building. In the mid-20th century, Canadian photographers such as Yousuf Karsh and George Hunter were commissioned to capture the dynamism and strength of our national industries and economy by way of romantic depictions of workers in the factory and in the field.
In recent decades, industrial decline at home has been the result of entanglements of international trade, environmental concerns and intricate socio-economic factors that are echoed in the decline of the photographic industry itself. Shuttered is an exploration of post-/industrial conditions through a medium long associated with loss, memory and memorialization. This exhibition includes photography and video from four artists from across Canada that present views of industry in Ontario in the 21st century. Its images investigate shifting industrial landscapes and settings, and reflect on both the presence and increasing absence of workers from the public imagination.
This exhibition will be accompanied by an essay by Siobhan Angus.
Please join us for the public opening reception of Shuttered on Friday, February 12th from 7-10 pm.
Shuttered will be accompanied by a winter program that will include a screening, an artist’s talk, the blog project We Are the Workers’ City, and our January PA Day camp, Monumental Mash-Up. Keep an eye on our website, Facebook and Twitter pages for more information.
Working in photography, intermedia and installation, Arnold Koroshegyi is an award-winning artist who has exhibited across Canada, the United States and in Europe. Koroshegyi’s practice and research interests converge around the impermanence of place and the marginal in our shifting social and physical landscapes.
Growing up in a family with strong political and social values, Victoria Piersig was surrounded by art and handmade objects from an early age. Her father was a great influence in her early years and she has always had an interest in construction and industry. They were often seen together watching the long line of trucks deliver the soybeans to the now-defunct Victory Soya Mills on the Toronto waterfront in the fall. Family vacations inevitably included tours of car manufacturing plants, pulp and paper mills, match factories, greenhouses, welding companies, and furniture finishers.
Andreas Rutkauskas‘ artistic approach focuses on the cause and effect of a range of technologies on the perception, development, and exploitation of landscapes. Through the use of photography, video, and mapping, his recent projects address cycles of industrialization and de-industrialization in Canada’s oil patch (Petrolia), and the subtle technologies used to survey the Canada/US border. He has exhibited in solo and group contexts, including the 14th edition of Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal, Oslo8 contemporary photography in Basel, Gallery 400 in Chicago, The Judith and Norman Alix Art Gallery in Sarnia, TRUCK Contemporary Art in Calgary, and The Foreman Art Gallery in Lennoxville, Québec. Born in Winnipeg, and having lived in Montreal for twelve years, he now lives in the Rocky Mountains and work as the photography facilitator at The Banff Centre.
Kathy Toth‘s photography work focuses on the built landscape and the intersection of industry, infrastructure and communities. Her work initially started in Toronto and Hamilton a decade ago but she has since traveled all over the rust belt in Southern Ontario and the Northeastern United States. Toth also works in paint, wood and metal and has exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions. She is currently working on a new edition of her book Hidden Toronto, first published in 2013, featuring graffiti art off the beaten path on hidden infrastructure such as drainage channels and bridges in the GTA. Hidden Toronto will be released in early 2016.
