www.fgks.org   »   [go: up one dir, main page]

photoED Magazine - SPRING/SUMMER 2023 - FOOD

Page 1

SPRING/SUMMER 2023

THE FOOD ISSUE photo ED 1


© Jose Mostajo

Capture the decisive moment with Tamron. Tamron lenses deliver a superb fusion of performance and value, enabling today’s cameras to perform at their peak, and are designed for remarkable optical performance.

17-28 mm 28-75mm 35-150mm F/2.8 Di III RXD F/2.8 Di III VXD G2 F/2-2.8 Di III VXD ULTRA

WIDEANGLE

ZOOM LENS [model A046] WIDE-ANGLE for Sony E-Mount

www.tamron-americas.com

ALL NEW

G2

ZOOM LENS [model A063] forSTANDARD Sony E-Mount

FAST

F/2

ZOOM LENS [model A058] forALL-IN-ONE Sony E-Mount ONLY AVAILABLE AT YOUR AUTHORIZED TAMRON AMERICAS RETAILER


SUSAN HUBER

Salt Spring Island, BC “ The results from long exposures of the plant life around me take viewers out of time, and into their senses, to venture out on soils of past eons, of stories long forgotten.” www.susanhuber.com IG: @susanhuberart

IN THIS ISSUE... 9 RESOURCES WE LOVE By Alan Bulley 13 SCARBOROUGH MADE: COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS + CULINARY CULTURE By Sid Naidu 17 ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES ADAM BORMAN 20 A MEDITATION ON THE PERISHABLE S. MARIA BRANDT’S INSTALLATION 50% By Bart Gazzola 26 FOOD CHAIN A conversation through photographs about food 30 APPLES TO iPHONES? By Ali Penko

32 PORTFOLIO Featuring Marie-Louise Moutafchieva, Kate Ince, Carl Rittenhouse, Jennifer Chin, Anthony Carr, Gladys Lou, and Peggy Taylor Reid 42 SVAVA TERGESEN: SHIFTING THE PERCEPTION OF FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY Interview by Lea Zöller 44 I AN KAPITAN’S BLACK SHEEP SUPPER CLUB By Corinna vanGerwen 52 GAB BOIS: PLAYING WITH HER FOOD By Sun Woo Baik 58 THE GALLERY


EDITOR’S NOTE

FOOD FOR THOUGHT EVERYONE HAS A VERY DIFFERENT RELATIONSHIP TO FOOD.

Photo by Ryan Parker

This edition focuses on photographers who share their experiences and experiments with food: food as a necessity, a luxury, an object, a statement, a cultural connector, and so much more.

“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” — Luciano Pavarotti

PHOTOED MAGAZINE IS 100% MADE IN CANADA! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Photographing food may seem easy since food is a stationary subject, but this genre is far from simple. The same subject bares the weight of interpretation as it develops into a final image. Photographer Brian Lavery, whose work you’ll find in our Digital Edition – Extra (an extension of this print edition), candidly describes his process photographing food: “I wanted to photograph an apple but when I brought the apple and camera together, they would not cooperate. As well, the apple is burdened with Old Testament symbolism. I paused to think. Lemons came to mind.” From analog experiments like Anthony Carr’s NASA-inspired pepper project, to images made for a digital audience by Gab Bois, what we eat becomes part of a creative process that provides any viewer with a familiar, relatable starting point, regardless of where the conversation may lead. S. Maria Brandt found inspiration to address food waste in the

WWW.PHOTOED.CA @photoedmagazine @PhotoEdCANADA @photoedmagazine

PhotoED Magazine is published 3x/year, SPRING, FALL, & WINTER See www.photoed.ca for subscription and advertising information. Publications Mail Agreement No. 40634032 PhotoED Magazine 2100 Bloor St. West, Suite 6218 Toronto, ON M6S 5A5 This issue was made possible with the assistance of the Ontario Arts Council and the Government of Canada.

back of her fridge, while the work of chef and photographer Ian Kapitan directs us towards a conversation about mental health in the culinary industry. One of my favourite features in this issue is our FOOD CHAIN project. With only the guideline that food was the theme, images were passed to contributors across Canada in a kind of exquisite corpse photography game. It was fascinating to genuinely not know what to expect from the submissions. Looking ahead, our 2023 season will focus on back-to-basics themes that aim to engage our readers and challenge them to push their creative thinking around the essentials of life. Look forward to our WATER and LAND themed editions this year. Follow us on Instagram, Patreon, Facebook, and Twitter, and sign up for our e-newsletter to keep up with all our adventures! Your editor, Rita Godlevskis

MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2023 ISSUE #67 ISSN 1708-282X EDITOR/PUBLISHER ART DIRECTOR CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Rita Godlevskis /rita@photoed.ca Ruth Alves Alan Bulley Bart Gazzola Sid Naidu Ali Penko Corinna vanGerwen Sun Woo Baik Lea Zöller

COPY EDITOR

Deborah Cooper

COVER IMAGE BY

S. Maria Brandt

+ FIND OUR DIGITAL REPLICA EDITIONS ON


Create with Henry’s a j

LET HENRY’S STUDIO AND LIGHTING EXPERTISE ELEVATE YOUR WORK CONNECT WITH US ON SOCIAL

HENRYS.COM photo ED 5


From digital to film, we’re here to support your creativity.

Cameras • Film • Lighting • Digital Rentals • Advice • Community

Beau Photo Supplies Vancouver, BC 604.734.7771

www.beauphoto.com Beau Photo

@beauphotostore

beauphotostore

TAKE NOTE:

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Sneaky Light Pinhole photographs taken with household objects and containers. Exhibition March 21 - May 5 Beau Photo Gallery Space Image taken with Trader Joe’s Popcorn can camera.

WATER

photoed.ca/submit-your-work DEADLINE: JUNE 1, 2023


THANK YOU THESE AMAZING PEOPLE SUPPORT US AS PATRONS! (AND GET EXTRA PERKS!)

+ OUR PHOTO COMMUNITY PARTNERS

8×10 Glass Plate VIPs

Ann Piché + Lori Ryerson 35mm Official Patrons Jason Cooper Akemi Matsubuchi Jason Machinski Melanie Scaife Selina Pieczonka Steve Simon Ruth Bergen Braun Blork Robert Royer David J. Kenny Ariela Badenas Loretta Meyer Sid Naidu Dan Cooper Michelle Markatos Carey Shaw Vu Hai Nguyen Emma Juliette Sherland Daphne Faye Boxill Wally Rae Leah Murray Micheline Godbout Allan Cameron Kerri-Jo Stewart Tim Rahrer Charlie Rathouin Gurudayal Khalsa

Steve Ricketts Lindsey Tran Todd McLellan Tracey Halladay Mandy Klein Danielle Denis Megan Belinda Ratliff Gladys Lou Mary Kyd

120mm Official Patrons Gerry Stone Anonymous Jeff Baine Katherine Childs hckygrlphoto Susan Kerr Christine Goodyear David Williams Shelagh Howard Laura Jones Charles Campbell Jennifer Gilbert Victoria Prevot Skip Dean Vitalii Sovhyra Marc Delledonne Anaïs Are Shelly Priest

4×5 Large Format Official VIP Patrons Judith Cole Valerie Lancia Ian McKenzie Mark Walton Alan Bulley Conan Stark James Carey Lauder Patricia Parsons Haughland Media Trish Kozubski AIH Studios David Brandy Amanda Devison Ken Udle

Professional Photographers of Canada Photographes professionnels du Canada

STARTING AT $3/MONTH!

JOIN US! FIND OUT MORE:

patreon.com/photoedmagazine


FREE YOUR EXPRESSION CREATE YOUR BEST IMAGES

Photo by: Elliot Aubin - SIGMA 50mm F1.4 DG DN | Art

The SIGMA Art 50mm F1.4 DG DN Push your creativity to the next level with the SIGMA Art 50mm F1.4 lens. The perfect combination of performance,high-speed AF and compactness for today’s mirrorless systems, at an affordable price. Featuring the large F1.4 aperture and a large beautiful bokeh effect, the new “Art F1.4 50mm,” is a lens that is truly all-around capable in terms of expressive performance, maneuverability, and usability, designed to help photographers create their greatest work. Available in Canon, Nikon, Sony E-Mounts and L-Mounts, the Sigma Art 50mm F1.4 is the perfect tool to redefine your artistic side. Explore the world of SIGMA

sigmacanada.ca

Discover our artisan stories

sigmaartisans.com

Made in Japan

To find an authorized SIGMA retailer near you, visit sigmacanada.ca/where-to-buy SIGMA lenses are distributed in Canada exclusively by Gentec International, one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies • gentec-intl.com


GET INSPIRED

FOR THE COFFEE TABLE A few resources we recommend to quench your thirst for more BY ALAN BULLEY

VISUAL FEAST: CONTEMPORARY FOOD STAGING AND PHOTOGRAPHY Occupying a space somewhere between art book and how-to guide, Visual Feast’s tagline is that it “reveals a world where food is both an art medium and an edible eccentricity.” You might think of it as a sourcebook of ideas for contemporary food presentation with texts that provide information on the practice of each artist. It contains some eccentric choices: foods and backgrounds appear in pastel colours, compositions are dynamic, and the text looks like it might have been set on an IBM Selectric (younger readers may need to Google that). And yet, the whole menu comes together. Hardcover, 2017, 217 pages $74. Gestalten www.chapters.indigo.ca

FEAST FOR THE EYES: THE STORY OF FOOD IN PHOTOGRAPHY Susan Bright Susan Bright’s thoughtful overview of food photography is an informed primer that takes in the art of such well-known names as Roger Fenton, Edward Weston, Stephen Shore, Laura Letinsky, Wolfgang Tillmans, Nobuyoshi Araki, and many more. Susan brings a curator’s critical eye to the work of each photographer and helps us to navigate the history of food photography, its status as fine art, and its everyday applications in science and media. Hardcover, 2017, 304 pages $76. Aperture Books www.chapters.indigo.ca

STILL LIFE: IRVING PENN PHOTOGRAPHS 1938–2000 Irving Penn and John Szarkowski The title of the book is a hint: it’s been a while since Irving Penn has been around to make images. So few photographers have come close to matching his work for sheer imagination and technical mastery. His fashion and portrait work has sometimes overshadowed the other parts of his practice but, no matter your skill at photographing food, Irving will always have something to teach you. This volume is out of print and used copies can be prohibitively expensive, so you might want to dust off your library card. You’ll be glad you did. Hardcover, 2001, 144 pages Bulfinch

photo ED 9


FURTHER RESOURCES

RECIPES FOR INSPIRATION BY ALAN BULLEY

That Photo Makes Me Hungry: Photographing Food for Fun and Profit Andrew Scrivani 2019, 224 pages Picture Perfect Food: Master the Art of Food Photography with 52 Bite-Sized Tutorials Joanie Simon 2021, 152 pages

HOW-TO: IN THREE COURSES If artfully created images of food give you the taste for making your own photographs, we suggest these three courses. That Photo Makes Me Hungry by Andrew Scrivani (food photographer for The New York Times) starts with the basics of seeing light and paying attention, and builds up to the business of how you can get paid to shoot food.

The Food Stylist’s Handbook: Hundreds of Media Styling Tips, Tricks, and Secrets for Chefs, Artists, Bloggers, and Food Lovers Denise Vivaldo and Cindie Flannigan 2017, 320 pages Available online

www.kobo.com

Moving to the next course, Joanie Simon’s Picture Perfect Food is akin to a cookbook, drawing the reader through some of the same territory as the other books mentioned here, but paying more attention to the how-to aspects of food photography in manageable bites. A feature of her practical approach is the many “challenges” she sprinkles throughout the book and her insistence that learning, not gear, is the primary concern: A great oven doesn’t make you a great cook, and a great camera won’t make you Irving Penn! Over dessert, we can turn our attention to setup, composition, and arrangement with Denise Vivaldo and Cindie Flannigan’s The Food Stylist’s Handbook. The authors have years of experience in film, television, and media, and know exactly how much artifice it takes (like giving steak a spray tan!) to create food images that look so real you can smell them.

BINGE ON NETFLIX Sure, there are lots of cooking videos out there, but not all of them make an artful blend of learning, pleasure, and beautiful visuals. Chef’s Table is an extended banquet of documentaries on chefs who have achieved mastery in the kitchen and on the plate. Netflix brags that “restaurants headed by 11 of the chefs in this Emmy-nominated series have made the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list,” and you can see why in loving detail. Meanwhile, Salt Fat Acid Heat takes a more personal approach by following chef and writer Samin Nosrat as she explores what she considers the four elements of delicious flavour. Samin laughs and cooks her way around visually stunning locations and invites us along for the ride. Bon appétit!

10 photo ED


SHOP LOCAL! WE LOVE PRINT

#SAVE

HARCOURT

Clearly we’re 200% biased, but we think the freshest food and culture news comes from magazines. We LOVE a visit (in person or online) to check out the unique, hard-to-find, independent magazines from around the world at the Issues magazine shop. Our food-related faves include Serviette, Sandwich, and Cherry Bombe — a magazine that features women within the worlds of food and drink.

HOUSE

Check out the incredible selection at Issues online, or in person at 1489 Dundas St. West in Toronto.

www.issuesmagshop.com

GOOD EGG Shop owner and publisher Mika describes Good Egg books as a series of homemade books published slowly but surely. Some incredibly talented local authors’ recipes and ideas are packaged in small, beautifully designed paper volumes, and are clearly crafted with love. “We have a special place in out hearts for ingredients that are inexpensive and abundant,” says Mika. For your kitchen or as the perfect gift, we highly recommend these thoughtful (and affordable!) books.

Limes Corey Mintz

Blood Jennifer McLagan

Tender Herbs Amy Rosen

$20 each. Available at the Good Egg in Toronto’s Kensington Market and online at www.goodegg.ca

GoFundMe

3rd floor, 10215 - 112 Street, Edmonton AB T5K 1M7 harcourthouse.ab.ca info@harcourthouse.ab.ca 780 426 4180


BackLight 36L Photo: Edoardo Ciferri

thinktankphoto.ca


RIGHT: Portrait of Jennifer Lee, Owner of Hakka Chinese restaurant Federick’s by Sid Naidu BELOW: SM founders Alex Narvaez and Sid Naidu BELOW LEFT: SM youth artist Alyssa Vidal INSET: Ferdinand Orlain

SCARBOROUGH MADE: COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS + CULINARY CULTURE BY SID NAIDU

SCARBOROUGH MADE (SM) IS A SOCIAL IMPACT DOCUMENTARY organization that champions storytelling through photography and video in Toronto’s East. Co-founded by Alex Narvaez and Sid Naidu in 2019, the multifaceted project aims to shift how marginalized neighbourhoods are portrayed in media by documenting local culture and community stories.

We’ve built this project from our lived experiences as artists growing up in Scarborough to address the representation of underserved neighbourhoods and the lack of creative opportunities present. SM inspires emerging BIPOC youth artists interested in pursuing visual arts professionally. The project provides mentorship and paid opportunities for youth, allowing them to work with their local community through storytelling and public art. Connections are made from exchanging positive cultural experiences with one another. Food may be one of the most

valuable cross-cultural connectors to help us explore our shared narrative as a society. Photography is a tool that helps us amplify the importance of communicating connection. Scarborough is a community where immigrants from all parts of the world contribute to a rich culinary culture. Documenting food in our community is essential in showcasing our diversity. Our local restaurants are cultural institutions that have been important parts of our neighbourhood for decades. When documenting stories, we always look to strike a connection between people and place. Our youth artists choose the people and topics in the community they want to profile. Youth artist Alyssa Vidal produced a story on Ghadir Meat & Restaurant, a Middle Eastern grocery store and restaurant on Lawrence Avenue East. Owner Ali Dbouk started Ghadir Meat Market when he came to Canada in 1991. In 2016, the store expanded into a restaurant, traditionally grilling their meats on charcoal and opening up photo ED 13


THERE’S NO FILTER FOR FLAVOUR. Mind-blowing blended seasonings made in small batches with premium-quality spices. And no filler.

THEGORGEOUS.CO

SET YOUR CAMERA TO “MANUAL” AND YOUR COFFEE TO “AUTOPILOT” SUBSCRIBE TO SPARKPLUG COFFEE’S AUTOPILOT CLUB FOR GREAT COFFEE DELIVERED ON YOUR TERMS.

WWW.SPARKPLUG.COFFEE


“ Scarborough is a community where immigrants from all parts of the world contribute to a rich culinary culture. Documenting food in our community is essential in showcasing our diversity.” another store to serve fresh fish brought in from the Mediterranean. The push to extend the business came as Syrian refugees started coming to Canada and Ali saw the need to help others. Alyssa says, “I’m Filipino, but I was born in Saudi Arabia. Food is an important part of my culture, and as someone who was born and raised in the Middle East before coming to Canada, I had a connection to Ghadir’s because it reminded me of my childhood.” Through SM, Alyssa participated in training to help her develop skills in documentary storytelling through photography and cinematography. SM helped to facilitate and coordinate her photo shoot and equipped Alyssa with professional camera and audio equipment. With the content she captured, she produced a short video, and one of her photographs was featured in a public art installation at a local transit station. Youth artist Ferdinand Orlain has watched his neighbourhood change firsthand. The Real McCoy Burgers & Pizza, a landmark for Scarborough, was forced to close its doors after 53 years of service due to new condominium developments. Local customers showed their strength in numbers and kept the restaurant packed until the doors closed for the last time. Ferdinand documented the story of the Real McCoy’s owner George Mihail through photography and videography to share the legacy behind this local eatery and how it had been the go-to neighbourhood place.

ABOVE: Portrait of George Mihail, owner of The Real McCoy, by Ferdinand Orlain

BELOW: Portrait of Ali Dbouk, owner of Ghadir Meat & Restaurant, by Alyssa Vidal

Ferdinand says, “I was born in the building right behind the Real McCoy, and I had a lot of family living in the apartments. The gentrification here has been challenging for the community. It takes away jobs, and it takes a while for restaurants to open up again. You never forget your roots. I was happy to document this story for a community that made me who I am today.” As SM continues to grow and document the Scarborough community, food will always be a topic that brings us to the table to celebrate the diversity and flavours of our home.

For more information about this project, please visit www.scarboroughmade.com IG: @scarboroughmade photo ED 15


AS THE ONLY CANADIAN PRINT MAGAZINE FOR PHOTOGRAPHY LOVERS, WE HOPE YOU’RE ENJOYING THE SLOW-READ AND QUALITY-PAPER EXPERIENCE THAT WE CAREFULLY CRAFT 3× A YEAR.

CHAMPIONING CANADIAN PHOTOGRAPHY SINCE 2001.

FREE

SHIPPING IN CANADA

THE SUPER BUNDLE SPECIAL OFFER!

15 back issues + 3 ×3D issues (incl. glasses) + a FREE copy of the GUIDE! Makes a great classroom resource for only $65.

ORDER ONLINE:

PHOTOED.CA/SPECIAL-OFFERS


ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES

FROM ART HISTORY TO ZOOM LENSES, WE SPOKE TO PHOTOGRAPHER ADAM BORMAN ABOUT HIS WORK.


I WANTED TO CAPTURE MY SUBJECTS IN A WAY THAT RESEMBLES LANDSCAPES OVER STILL LIFE.

‘Fruit’ by Adam Borman shot at 200mm, with the Tamron 70-200mm, at f/11-16.

photoED: What is it about photography that you love

Adam: I think photography opportunity to create some curated, and manufactured possibilities in capturing a but then, through various t manipulate what was in fro story, are endless. That is re


t creating stories through most?

y offers the unique ething authentic, documentary, d, simultaneously. The scene that’s in front of you techniques, being able to ont of the lens into a different eally exciting for me.

photoED: À travers la photographie vous créer des histoire, qu’est-ce qui vous plaît le plus dans cette pratique? Adam: Je crois que la photographie nous offre l’opportunité de créer simultanément quelque chose d’authentique, documentaire, organisé et manufacturé. Saisir une scène qui est devant nous et ensuite la manipuler à travers diverses techniques offre des possibilités infinies, celles-ci nous permettent de manipuler ce qui est devant l’objectif vers une autre histoire. Ceci m’emballe.

This interview continues on our BLOG in English AND in French. www.photoed.ca


A MEDITATION ON THE PERISHABLE BY BART GAZZOLA


INSTALLATION 50% S. MARIA BRANDT

THE AESTHETIC DISTANCING that photography offers is well exploited by S. Maria Brandt. The delicate touches of rot, textured mould, and the exquisite quality of her colours are almost an aspersion to the intent of the work. It is equally evocatively grotesque and a lovely contradiction.

There’s a strange beauty to what S. Maria is sharing with us: the bright oranges, the rich reds, the dark fetid tones of the mushrooms, the vaguely iridescent unknown liquids,

photo ED 21


the monumentalism of the browning vegetables (especially the cauliflower), the meat that I’m sure I can smell. All of these instigating a sort of phantom scent recollection. The work alludes to numerous delectable still life works from art history, where the finest detail of a lemon peel or marbling of meat is rendered eternal. Pieter Claesz (1597–1660), from the Golden Age of Dutch still life painting is the foremost example. There’s a sensuality in his work that many contemporary photographers have followed, consciously or not, in making the banal exotic or appealing to a visual sense with something that might affront some viewers. There’s a decadence there, too — a wastefulness. This is what was brought to my mind, when looking at this series. I’m reminded of how I sometimes have twinges of doubt when I’m sharing artwork on social media. When sharing works from artists of the last few centuries — specifically some Russian artists of the late 1900s — who painted elaborate food-oriented still lives, I am also conscious of the fact that starvation was rampant at the time. S. Maria offers a visual response to illustrate contradiction. She states, “More than 50 percent of the food that Canadian households throw out could have been eaten. We leave those millions of tonnes of edible food, worth billions of dollars to perish, unseen and forgotten in the back of our fridges, freezers, and pantries, turning our own and the world’s resources to waste. That 50 percent at the back of my own household’s fridge is both the object and the subject of this work. I meditate on the perishable.” When looking at food waste commemorated in this work, the well-worn statement by Gandhi comes to mind: “There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.” But, I also lean towards the assertion that “No society is more than three meals away from revolution.” I think a lot about hunger. Perhaps because I’ve experienced significant financial challenges, and likely will do so again. I’ve also lived in places that are less economically stable for creative industry workers. It is often feast or famine in terms of income.

22 photo ED

It is somewhat relative, I suppose, whether or not mould can be scraped off food. The extent of your hunger influences the chances you’ll take with the things you pull out of the recesses of the fridge or cupboard. “Feel what it’s like to truly starve, and I guarantee that you’ll forever think twice before wasting food,” says author Criss Jami. I recall reading an account of a colony of settlers, with a person recording in their diary that they had to eat horrid things to survive — like potatoes. Long before I worked in the creative industry, like many young people, I worked in kitchens. My time working at a golf and country club was interesting. Each day, a fresh soup of the day was made. A manager decreed that any leftover soup was to be thrown out at the end of the day and not taken home by staff, for free. There was outrage about this in the kitchen. The staff in the kitchen defied this order to ensure many of the underpaid and overworked employees would still be able to take food home. This contributed to a more contentious environment that eventually led to staff voting to unionize. Why am I subjecting you to a personal story from over a quarter century ago? Allow me to cite S. Maria’s words in response: “As a society, we conceal our garbage, our excrement, our decaying bodies, and our dying loved ones, and we shroud them in silence: our conversations about them are muted, often followed by an apology for raising them. I came to realize that we — and I — cannot continue to avoid our responsibilities for the world, our own homes, and our lives. Nothing good grows out of sight and mind in our fridges’ not-crispers-but-rotters. I was compelled to expose these hidden things by creating objects that I could see and touch.” It’s like these are funerary portraits: a lovely picture before they’re interred into the massive amounts of garbage — and waste — that S. Maria decries here and yet she, like many of us, are continuing to produce. There’s a culpability that the artist is admitting to, and implicating us all in. It’s the same culpability that Jonathan Bloom speaks of in American Wasteland: “To me, it’s sort of funny that wasting food is not taboo. It’s one of the last environmental ills that you can just get away with.”


“We leave those millions of tonnes of edible food, worth billions of dollars to perish, unseen and forgotten in the back of our fridges turning our own and the world’s resources to waste.”

photo ED 23


24 photo ED


“Nothing good grows out of sight and mind in our fridges’ not-crispers-but-rotters.” www.smariabrandt.com photo ED 25


1.

PHOTOED MAGAZINE PRESENTS

FOOD CHAIN A VISUAL CONVERSATION BETWEEN PHOTOGRAPHERS FROM ACROSS CANADA ABOUT FOOD

5. 26 photo ED

6.


2.

3.

We invited our patrons to participate in a creative conversation through images. Each participant was sent a single image with no information about it and was asked to respond with the next link in the chain, an image of their own that spoke to what they had received. Here is where our contributors took this story.

1. ANN PICHE Ottawa, ON “breakfast lunch supper” The inspiration for this image is Stephen Leacock’s short story “The New Food.” A large family is gathered around the Christmas table for dinner. 13 plates of food have been condensed into one pill. While the father is giving thanks, the baby of the family grabs the pill and eats it. One of the first presentations of a meal in a pill idea was at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. People from different fields were asked what they thought life would be like in 1993. American suffragette Mary Elizabeth Lease predicted that we would be eating synthetic foods in a pill form, so women could get away from the kitchen. 2. LORI RYERSON Toronto, ON “Tanks Giving” This image was captured near Algoma, ON, around Thanksgiving, the timing of which gave me the play on words to title the piece. When I see things like these empty BBQ tanks in a dumpsite, I can’t help but consider our North American waste habits, unnecessary landfill, and how many people do not get a Thanksgiving meal due to food scarcity. 3. ALAN BULLEY Ottawa, ON “Thanksgiving with Bechers” A play on the seasonal theme, colours, and repetition of round shapes.

7.

4.

4. MARK WALTON Waterloo, ON “Thanksgiving Prep at the Walton/O’Connell Household” A Graflex SuperGraphic 4×5 shot direct to fibre photo paper, scanned and inverted. 5. VALERIE LANCIA Toronto, ON My initial reaction to the photo I received was to think of something tastier than Brussels sprouts! (I’m not a fan.) My thoughts led me to consider the process of growing foods, and seeds. I picked milkweed seed heads, thinking about how they provide sustenance for monarch butterflies. Many people still pull the plant thinking it’s a weed, but it’s an edible food for a vital part of our ecosystem. 6.IAN MCKENZIE Calgary, AB Food can range from fine art all the way to crass commercialism. This photo falls firmly within the latter. This five-metre statue of a Cheeto, placed in a quiet hamlet in Southern Alberta, is a marketing ploy. It seems to have worked. There’s been media coverage beyond Canada’s borders and a steady stream of visitors drive out to get their photo of or with the sculpture. 7. PATRICIA PARSONS Ottawa, ON Playing on the idea of food sculptures, I photographed a fruit bowl that I made 30 years ago, in grade 10. I still have it and love it even though it’s been cracked a couple times in various moves.


8.

9.

13.

8. GABRIELLE DE MONTMOLLIN Welland, ON “Still Life with Three Pears” My image also has a ceramic component, a jug and a part of a vintage faux fruit plate, in addition to three pears. I was drawn to the similarity of the dark backgrounds that are reminiscent of the style of seventeenthcentury Dutch still lifes, which I love. 9. DAVID BRANDY Toronto, ON The strong golds and yellow colours in the image I was provided reminded me of a photo I took at sunrise of a hay bale. I learned recently through the Ontario Farmland Trust that we lose 319 acres of farmland a day in Ontario. This is insane and has to stop. The food cycle begins with farmers. No farmers, no food. Farmers feed cities.

10. KENNETH UDLE Orleans, ON

14.

Hay is integral to sustaining cattle and horses.

Bowl Seville orange marmalade. This image was inspired by Mary Pratt’s work, and my intention is to convey the pleasure found in food made by and for our loved ones.

11. JOHN HEALEY Ottawa, ON

13. CONAN STARK Waterloo, ON

This copy of The Joy of Cooking was my mother’s go-to resource from the 1970s. Like the presented image of food being dispensed to farm animals, this volume dispensed the information that helped my mother feed herself, her husband, and five kids, while she studied to become a chartered accountant. I was fortunate to collect this beloved book from her estate and have worked on documenting each page where there is evidence of her hand.

The mason jars, wood texture, and bright warm hues called to mind a fieldto-table approach to our relationship with food. My mind went to a photo I took of the activity at the communityfocused Kitchener Market.

12. CHRIS GOODYEAR Kanata, ON For me, the real joy in cooking is eating and sharing the comfort foods made by loved ones, such as my dad’s Super

14. DAVID B. WILLIAMS Toronto, ON Luxury foods appeal to our hedonistic sides, but they are also important in the social interactions of those who can afford them. Who doesn’t like to stop in at cafés, to gawk through windows at the wonderful creations, and to share them with friends along with coffee and conversation?

15. SHELAGH HOWARD Halifax, NS Seeing the image of the bakery on the busy city street that captures interior and exterior worlds overlapping inspired me to choose this photo of a rustic restaurant in Yellowknife, NWT, of a woman kneading bread. Although also taken through a window that reflects the outside, it feels more like a very personal and intimate moment. The ambiguous elements reflected in the window barely register, rather than being equally balanced as was the case in the other image. 16. CB CAMPBELL Thunder Bay, ON My first instinct when seeing this photo was to respond in kind. But seeing another person behind a window wouldn’t be much of a conversation. Instead, I chose this image to complement and play off the first. I imagine both pictures could have been taken on the same street. The


10.

11.

15.

17. VITALII SOVHYRA Toronto, ON For me, there is always a spot for

17.

16.

18.

coffee shop is locally owned and these windows also reflect trees and the immediate environment, but now the action is playful.

12.

sweets with a cup of coffee. I enjoy having nowhere to rush and taking my time savouring treats. 18. VICTORIA PREVOT Burnaby, BC Photography is the sweet food that feeds my soul.

19.

20.

19. TRACEY HALLADAY Elkford, BC

20. RAMO/HCKYGRLPHOTO Toronto, ON

When I saw the photo I was sent, it made me think of the Lady and the Tramp scene when the dogs are eating spaghetti in the moonlight. My response was to create a scene of my own.

After the bedtime story, the mice snuggled to sleep. And now I get to have a late night snack too!

photo ED 29


APPLES TO iPHONES? AS MEMBERS OF A DIVERSE SOCIETY, WE ALL HAVE DIFFERENT RELATIONSHIPS TO FOOD AND FOOD PRODUCTION BY ALI PENKO IMAGE BY BOB ST-CYR

THIS SINGLE FRAME by Bob St-Cyr opens volumes of questions we collectively should be asking.

This image depicts a scene of an older man, bent over, picking fruit off the ground. In the background, a younger woman stands with her back to the man. She has what appears to be a phone in her hand, and she is taking a photo. The first thing that I saw was the man. Immediately, he made me think about travel restrictions during the last few years, and migrant workers, unable to travel to Canada and to pick our crops for us. There were many news stories on how entire crops were left to rot in the fields because no one was willing to pick them. Is this a statement on the work ethic of different cultures? Another viewer may look at this scene and feel frustration with the woman with the phone. This is an all too familiar sight. People everywhere, walking around like zombies with phones in front of their faces, living life through phone screens and social media filters. Maybe she is an Internet influencer promoting her experience visiting an orchard or someone who has worked in this orchard and is making a video teaching people where apples come from.

30 photo ED

Are these two people related to each other or are they strangers? Is this scene real or staged? Are there other people just out of the frame or are these two alone? Who picked the full basket of apples in the foreground? How large is this farm? To where are these apples destined? Are they going to a local market or a supermarket on the other side of the world? Was this photo documenting apple-harvesting methods in a particular place or is it a vacation snapshot? It is very possible that the real story to this photograph has no special explanation and is a basic and banal scene. But does that really matter to us as viewers if we read into it? Why did the photographer choose to preserve and share this moment in time? What’s the message in the act of presenting images without context? Interpreting the meaning of an image is really just guessing. What makes one person feel passionately about any one piece of art, a song, a poem, or a photograph is personal and depends on individual life experiences and unique points of view. Photographs have the power to tell stories but, without context, interpretations will vary. What do you see in this image? What societal message can it press you to re-think for yourself?


photo ED 31


PORTFOLIO

FOOD In the same way chefs and home cooks look at the ingredients they have to work with and are driven to experiment with possible combinations, for many photographers, crafting an image comes from a place of curiosity. What will it look like if I combine these elements? Or, how can I tell an age-old story in a fresh new way? The artists we have selected for this portfolio have led their image-making endeavours with a distinct curiosity and unique use of conventional photography tools. The beauty of food as a subject is that it’s relatable to all viewers. The beauty of focusing in on food through still images in print is that we offer the luxury of stopping time. As in life we sometimes rush to devour fast food (and images) on-the-go; while at other times, our experience is elevated when time is made to slow our pace and enjoy every bite (or a single frame). Some images here present food as an abstract creative element for the viewer to decode. Others take a close look at how we present and consume what we eat, asking viewers consider the wider cultural implications around the adage “you are what you eat.” We hope you enjoy this slow food selection and feel better nourished for taking time with these works.

MARIE-LOUISE MOUTAFCHIEVA UP CLOSE Toronto, ON

www.marielouphoto.com 32 photo ED

photo ED 32




KATE INCE CAUGHT Toronto, ON

My approach to creating imagery starts off with inspiration from colour palettes and textures I see in architecture and design. This series was created in collaboration with stylist Nicole Billark as we explored ideas around coastline living and the beauty of what the sea offers us. www.kateince.ca


CARL RITTENHOUSE FOOD AS NECESSITY Jordan Station, ON

Dried Zambian bean pods in a handmade basket. www.carlrittenhouse.com

36 photo ED


JENNIFER CHIN LINEAGE THROUGH FOOD Toronto, ON

This image is from a series exploring and paying tribute to cultural food-ways and traditions carried across continents and generations. “See Sea Shui” is a composite image of hand-printed cyanotypes depicting a collection of traditional Chinese herbs and medicines left to me by my grandmother. The dark blue resembles a deep aquatic scene in which the herbs and fish of the collection are symbolically reanimated. www.jenniferchin.ca photo ED 37


Pepper000ExpC on Ilford MG1M paper, expired Feb 1980

ANTHONY CARR THE HOMEGROWN (PANDEMIC) COLLECTION Victoria, BC

The artistic possibilities of homegrown peppers seen through the prisms of lunar study and sustainability. During the pandemic, I started growing peppers from the seeds of a single shop-bought pepper. I decided that I wanted to make a detailed record of them with an approach inspired by NASA’s online Lunar Sample and Photo Catalog, an archive documenting rocks, core samples, pebbles, sand, and dust from six Apollo missions. Edward Weston famously photographed peppers in the 1920s. His experiments involved adapting his view camera to produce ever-smaller apertures, effectively turning it into a psuedo pinhole camera. I also used a pinhole camera for this series, including one designed with six lenses to capture multiple angles. Almost 100 years after Weston, my lens also gazes towards this unassuming fruit.

Concurrent global climate events have made me think about how my analog photography practice negatively impacts on the environment. I am acutely aware of my own toxic footprint. This has guided many of the decisions made during the development of this work. The most crucial being the formulation of an organic developer used as a replacement for traditional photographic chemistry. Brewed from the leaves and stems of the same pepper plants, this pepper tea developer performs almost as effectively, while simultaneously introducing new elements of inconsistency. Embracing unpredictability and the creative potential for happenstance was emphasized in this series by printing these experiments on expired silver gelatin paper. Both the film soup and vintage paper produce a series of unique, unrepeatable images.

www.anthonycarr.co.uk 38 photo ED

photo ED 38


GLADYS LOU AFTERNOON TEA Toronto, ON

Inspired by the artist’s identity as a Hong Kong–Canadian person, this still life addresses themes of diaspora, and the artist’s hybrid lifestyle combining Eastern and Western traditions. A Bolo Bao (Hong Kong traditional bun) is placed alongside Timbits and beverages from the Canadian franchise, blending afternoon tea menus from two cultures. www.gladyslou.com photo ED 39


ABOVE: “Water,” form follows (dis)function OPPOSITE PAGE, TOP LEFT: “Ball Improved,” unContained TOP RIGHT: “Acme Farmers Dairy Limited,” unContained BOTTOM: “Snack Container,” form follows (dis)function


PEGGY TAYLOR REID Caledon, ON

Peggy Taylor Reid’s work encompasses constructed photographs, concepts, and the natural world in a decades-long investigation of objects as traces and shadows of our physical world. She weaves together an investigation of the ubiquity of post-consumer waste, sustainability, food insecurity, and habits of consumption. With a focus on containers, as an extension of the body and our subjective experiences, she explores the life cycles of these objects, and invites viewers to consider their own relationships to them in our current culture of convenience and obsolescence. www.peggytaylorreid.com

photo ED 41


42 photo ED


SVAVA TERGESEN SHIFTING THE PERCEPTION OF FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY INTERVIEW BY LEA ZÖLLER

With her distinctive composition of food sculptures, vibrant colours, and fabric patterns, Svava Tergesen conflates the boundaries of photography and sculptural art.

“Platter (Blue and Green Honeydew,)” 2019

photo ED 43


You have a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. Stereotypically, people stick to either arts or science. Why did you choose to do a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography afterwards? Do you intend to choose between photography and math in the future? While studying math, I was fascinated with how math was its own language, using symbols to describe conceptual ideas. But I never really saw myself following any of the careers normally associated with math. When I realized that photography operates in a similar manner to math, but with its own set of symbolic references and visual idioms, I decided to attend art school in order to get a grasp on the art theory I felt I was missing. I doubt I will ever work in math directly, but I like to think that my photo work is informed by the time I spent studying it. I try not to think of things in strict, disciplinary terms — I’m interested in what can arise when elements from disparate fields are thrown together. “Crudités” and “I Want to Paint a Rose” incorporate a lot of compositions with geometrical forms. Where do you get your inspiration from for these projects? I’m very inspired by fibre arts — like knitting and weaving — that make use of geometric patterns for aesthetic purposes. I was trying to pick up on this relation to textiles by cutting fruit into diamond shapes and arranging them in patterns that you might see on a quilt or a sweater. I think a lot about the rift between “high” and “low” art, and I try to use techniques that haven’t typically been considered as fine art in Western traditions, such as cooking and crocheting. It feels powerful to use these very gendered gestures of cutting, slicing, and weaving in ways that aren’t considered productive or immediately useful. While working on these projects I discovered Roland Barthes’ essay “Ornamental Cookery.” In the essay, Barthes describes how food photography has perpetuated a set of myths about cooking, rather than the economic or gendered reality of what cooking is. With both “Crudités” and “I Want to Paint a Rose”, I used very decorative patterns to move the foods away from nourishment and instead into purely visual surfaces, recalling wallpapering or design, as an attempt to place emphasis on idealization that the camera can bring to objects. What feeling do you want to generate with your art within the viewer? I try to create the conditions for the viewer to re-acquaint themselves with objects that are hyper-familiar, and see them in a new way. For “Crudités,” I was thinking about how to

44 photo ED

create an experience that confuses the urges between desire and disgust. People have told me the bright colours and sculptures in my work have made them nauseous; while others say they find the objects really beautiful. I don’t think these feelings are mutually exclusive. They can actually operate in harmony. With my newer work, I am interested in images that take a while to decipher — images where the viewer’s eye keeps circulating, searching for the point at which the object in the image ends and my added ornamentation begins. In comparison to your former projects, Aural Fixation and Rider, your latest photographs abound with patterns, shapes, sculptures, fabrics, and colours. Why did you choose such a maximalist aesthetic for “Crudités” and “I Want to Paint a Rose”? During the time I made those two series, I was sick and food tasted awful to me. So, I set out to cook up hybrid foods that I could consume, or at the very least, I’d find visually exciting. A minimalist approach didn’t really make sense — I craved something bright and colourful. I wanted to tap into the realm of fantasy and create a sort of antidote to my reality. I’ve read that minimalism is often only attainable to people who can afford that type of lifestyle. When you’re sick, it’s harder to organize your life to create that seamless, minimalist aesthetic. From a feminist point of view, it was important to me for my images to feel somewhat decadent or indulgent, instead of restrained. Lately, I’ve been obsessed with periods of art history with a maximalist style, like Rococo and Georgian era art and fashion. Jewellery was frequently made to imitate the form of something else, like a column, star, or flower. There was a high level of ornamentation, deception, and secrecy in design. I find this kind of cross-pollination really exciting, where one thing is in a state of becoming another. I think this type of maximalism is conducive to a messy, imaginative, and fertile space. With photography, the person behind the camera always operates as a human filter. What part of your personality can be found in your photographs? I’d say my obsessiveness comes through. I am a very detailoriented person, and I’ve always felt like I was “too much.” So, my work is sort of an outlet of that — a space where I can go overboard, spend days and weeks researching some new interest and experimenting with materials. I’d like to think my sense of humour and playfulness come through as well. I often find myself laughing as I work, looking at these mischievous assemblages.


“Toffee Rose and Guanciale,” 2023

photo ED 45


There is no exact translation of “crudités” in the English language, but in a broader interpretation, it means “raw vegetable” such as carrot, cucumber, or celery. What was the reason you named your project after that? What inspires you about fruit and vegetables? There’s a tradition of culinary language using euphemisms to disguise the brutal reality of what you’re about to consume, like how organs are referred to as “sweetbreads,” or sheep becomes “mutton,” etc. I was fascinated by this practice of trying to dress something up, improve it through naming, and elevate it above the conditions of its reality. With “crudités” — a French word that has been cherrypicked into the English language and hovers uneasily in the mouth of a non-French speaker —I liked the juxtaposition of the crude and/or raw with its fanciful pronunciation. I was trying to put a finger on this practice of shapeshifting and purposeful subterfuge. I am a vegetarian, so the foods in my images are what you might find in my fridge. I consciously avoid depicting meat, which can trigger associations with death or violence. For me, foods are analogies for the body, and in particular, fruits and vegetables really relate to the feminine body. I’m inspired by the beauty, variety, and colours of fruits and vegetables. Both of your latest projects include imperfections in the compositions and shapes but, at the same time, are very detailed. Do you decide intuitively how your compositions will turn out in the end? My working methods are definitely intuitive. I’ll come up with ideas for images in the moments right before I fall asleep, but that is only ever a starting point. Other times I have to make and re-make a composition without first knowing where it’s going to end up. My process often involves setting up limitations: I think about what skills I have and how I could use them. For example, from a young age, I learned knife skills and how to cook. So, I set that out as my guideline: Where can this skill take me? How far can I push it? Because of the nature of my materials, it can be very hard to control. I try to let them exist as they are, even with the imperfections. I don’t try to hide or mask the labour that went into the images, because I’m interested in having it come through in the final product. You put a lot of effort into your arrangements considering the preparation of, for instance, your sculptures made out of fruit. How long is the process of finding the right motif for the finalized photograph?

46 photo ED

It can take 2 to 3 days to create these food sculptures. I’ll work on them and then throw them in the fridge. I’m fighting against time because the food can change from one hour to the next. Sometimes I’ll have to re-make sculptures if I realize that I wanted a different background or surface patterning. The whole process involves a lot of research, trial and error, as well as trips back and forth to local grocers and fabric stores. Because of how labour-intensive this is, I try to make it as easy as possible to work my practice into my daily routines. I’ll buy my art materials while doing my grocery shopping, and use the peeled fruits later in meals. You have worked at Atelier Circulaire, which is a digital printing office offering services to creatives in order to optimize their work for printing on various types of media. What have you learned from working there? I was so lucky to work with Anil Ragubance there, an incredibly gifted digital printmaker. I learned a huge amount about mixed media and Photoshop from Ragubance. Because the digital print studio was located inside of a larger printmaking atelier, I was exposed to a huge variety of techniques and intergenerational art practices. I became familiar with riso printing, intaglio, screen printing, and photography. I think this distilled into the way I approach photography as an interdisciplinary practice. Working at Atelier Circulaire also taught me about the physicality of the photographic medium, which can sometimes be glazed over in a university setting. You have already won numerous prizes for your art. In the future, what do you want to achieve with your art? Are there any upcoming projects? I have a lot of impostor syndrome, so I don’t take anything for granted. I feel like I have a lot of room to grow. I’m deeply inspired by artists who take risks and make technically innovative photographs. A long-term goal of mine would be to make some type of meaningful technical contributions to the field of photography by developing an unconventional material practice. I have been working with a mentor thanks to a grant I received from the BC Arts Council. Together, we have been exploring new ways of working, and I’m pushing myself to step into a more mature, experimental voice. This article is reproduced with permission, and originally appeared on metalmagazine.eu.


TOP LEFT: “Clematis and Battenburg Cake,” 2022 TOP RIGHT: “Surprise,” 2019 LEFT: “Centrepiece,” Installation at McGill and Penticton in Vancouver, BC, 2021 RIGHT: “Bluebells,” 2019 Look forward to Svava’s work in the Ornamental Cookery exhibition at the Audain Art Museum in Whistler, BC, as part of the Capture Photo Festival, 2023.

photo ED 47


THE BLACK SHEEP SUPPER CLUB PHOTOGRAPHER IAN KAPITAN SPEAKS OUT ABOUT FEEDING OTHERS AT THE SACRIFICE OF ONESELF BY CORINNA VANGERWEN

ONE AUGUST MORNING IN 2015, chef Ian Kapitan woke up with blisters on his hands. Within three days, the blisters had multiplied and it looked like he had stuck his hands up to his wrists into a deep fryer. “I looked like a leopard,” says Kapitan. “It was gross.”

A visit to St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto determined that the blisters were caused by stress. Ian had recently returned to the city to open up a new restaurant, after more than two decades in New York, and the pressure of doing so appeared to be affecting his physical health. Ian’s CV is impressive. He’s worked alongside superstar chefs like Susur Lee, Massimo Capra, Greg Couillard, and Jean-Georges Vongerichten. He’s cooked in some of the world’s top kitchens, including Danube, Langdon Hall, and the Ryland Inn, and was the executive chef for Google Canada. He’s been the featured chef at the James Beard House. He was voted one of the top 25 chefs in New Jersey by New Jersey Monthly magazine; his restaurant Alobar, in Long Island City, N.Y., made the Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand List; and other restaurants of his have received press from outlets like The New York Times and Toronto Life. 48 photo ED

But along with bragging rights, attaining and maintaining a spot in the upper echelons of the New York and Toronto culinary scenes also brought a whole host of mental health challenges. “I became uncomfortable in normal society, and I would avoid family get-togethers because it would remind me of what I was missing out on,” says Ian, who sometimes went as long as eight months without a day off. The more that happened and the more recognition he got as a professional chef, the more he buried himself in his work and its accompanying lifestyle. The industry is infamously intense, requiring long, gruelling hours. Bullying, verbal abuse, alcoholism, and drug use are not uncommon. One study found that waiting tables was more stressful than being a brain surgeon. Ian had also suffered traumas he had never properly dealt with. He had grown up with alcoholism in his household, went through 9/11 (living a half mile from the towers at the time) and, in 2012, endured extensive flooding of his New Jersey home during Hurricane Sandy. Add in the sustained strain of working in the kitchen trenches, and it’s no wonder Ian’s mind and body pushed back. “The compounded toll that it took on my nervous system, it just destroyed me,” says Ian.


photo ED 49


“I WANT TO CONVEY THE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL ENERGY, ALL THE EMOTIONS AND ALL THOSE FEELINGS TO SHOW WHAT IT’S ACTUALLY LIKE.”

50 photo ED


The blisters on Ian’s hands were one of four incidents, including seizures and a stay in the hospital. He was diagnosed with complex PTSD, panic disorder, and depression. But it wasn’t until 2022, after more than 20 years in the business, that Ian finally walked away to protect his wellbeing. He hasn’t entirely turned his back on the restaurant industry, though. At the beginning of his career, Ian had also been working as a photography assistant, and in the face of his troubles he returned to the art form to process and cope with the trauma. His current project, a series of photos and essays he calls The Black Sheep Supper Club, simultaneously celebrates his former peers and holds a mirror up to the darker side of culinary culture. Says Ian, “I want to convey the mental and physical energy, all the emotions and all those feelings to show what it’s actually like.” Although grateful for the life he lived, the people he met and the lessons he’s learned, Ian has firsthand experience of the risks that come along with working in such a demanding environment. “I watched, I can’t even count on my hands, the the number of people who were incredible, who just started to fall through the cracks because of the pressure of the industry and how toxic it can be,” he says.

resistant to acknowledging its shortcomings. “I’d like to at least try to push the needle towards starting to have real conversations, especially in the culinary world, because there’s this bravado and machismo — you suck it up, you take your your licks and grind through,” he says. “But nobody talks about the reality of that, the damage it does. Ultimately, it just hurts the industry.” Ian accepts his responsibility for contributing to that toxic culture when he was part of it and wants to help change it. He’s hopeful that as people become increasingly open to talking about mental health issues, the restaurant industry will start to embrace healthier ways of doing things. And he’d like to lead the way with The Black Sheep Supper Club. With plans to expand the project into a book and gallery shows, Ian hopes to use The Black Sheep Supper Club to raise funds to assist chefs and cooks with mental health supports. “I’m not looking at this project as a one-year project, says Ian. “This project for me is the rest of my life.” www.blacksheep.productions IG: @theblacksheepsupperclub This feature was co-produced with our friends at Serviette Magazine.

Ian hopes The Black Sheep Supper Club will draw attention to the mental health challenges and unhealthy aspects of a system photo ED 51


GAB BOIS:

PLAYING WITH 52 photo ED


H HER FOOD Instagram impossibilities and cultural cachet BY SUN WOO BAIK

photo ED 53


SCROLLING THROUGH MONTREAL-BASED ARTIST GAB BOIS’ WORK ONLINE is a captivating experience. A seemingly endless roll of creative and witty images invite more questions than answers from viewers. Gab’s physical art-making process has her combine household objects, food, and often herself with mainstream commercial brand names and symbols. Her DIY photography aesthetic has caught the attention of hundreds of thousands of online followers and of mega-brands such as Balenciaga, Valentino, Louboutin, Nike, and many more. Before going full time as an artist, Gab was in university studying to become an elementary school teacher and working part time at a consignment store. “It took two and a half years to build to a place where I could do it full time,” she says. She dropped out of school in 2017 and spent a year as a photo editor for an e-commerce platform. In 2018, that company folded. “I was at a crossroads where I [could] either just get another job or just take the little bit of savings that I had and try pursuing art. So that’s what I did,” Gab recalls. It was a rocky introduction to freelance life. But, in hindsight, she’s thankful for this push. “I’m not sure I would have made the move on my own. It wasn’t in my nature to be spontaneous.” With Instagram as her primary presentation platform, Gab’s experience is a true social media anomaly. According to Gab, organic growth was possible (but still rare) on mid-2010s’ Instagram. “It was so much easier to grow a following then. I couldn’t tell you the back end of it, but what I do know is that it just felt a lot more organic,” she says. This was a time when the platform had no recommended ads and had not yet switched to its algorithmic feed. Whatever was happening behind the scenes on the platform, Gab’s work was put in front of tens of thousands of eyes. Instagram’s “Explore” page broadcast her posts to a global audience. “A lot of larger accounts would repost and tag my work,” she says. “I remember [for] some posts I could get up to 30,000 followers in three days. This never happens anymore.” In 2019, the UK-based telecom O2 licensed one of Gab’s images for a billboard advertisement. “That was the first one where I thought, ‘I don’t understand how this is happening.’ I remember crying,” she says. “I couldn’t have gotten where I am now without getting fucked over with some bad contracts,” Gab admits. Sheepishly, she mentions that she had no experience in the business side of her work but was also fortunate enough to have a personal network that supported her early on. “Either the brands didn’t know what they were doing or they knew exactly what they were doing — so I got some really bad deals in the beginning,” she reflects. “But now it’s part of my backpack of experiences.” Meeting her manager Valentine Hinfray was another stroke of luck, Gab says: “Valentine had never managed an artist before, but she had a background in international law, production, events, and photoshoots. She had the perfect 54 photo ED

PREVIOUS PAGE: “Orange bra” and “Salad shoe” are Gab’s personal creative works, while “Clear couch” (filled with shrimp and vegetables) was a commission for Italian fashion retailer Yoox presented as a print in an exhibition during Milan Design Week in 2022. THIS PAGE: “Snow ice cream cone,” “Rhubarb purse,” and “Leek tennis skirt” are personal projects. “Pasta couch” was commissioned by Montreal-based furniture brand Element de base for a mini digital campaign in 2022.


photo ED 55


skill set.” Since 2019, they’ve been working together. Day to day, Valentine handles communications, prospecting, and contract negotiations. “With such big clients, the contractual aspect is essential,” Valentine notes. “In my opinion, if a brand really wants to work with an artist, they must be able to negotiate and offer fair conditions and not just good visibility. I frequently ask for modifications to the contracts that clients send.” Flexibility, Valentine says, is another asset required when doing big-brand commissioned collaborations: “[Gab] is always open to adapting her ideas in order to meet the objectives of a campaign. That said, on rare occasions, even after many rounds of discussions and approvals, if the client or even Gab does not like the final result, they may either move onto an alternative idea or the project is never released.” Gab’s current success doesn’t mean she’s worry free. “It’s still something I think today: ‘Maybe this is my last commission.’ It’s not something that I take for granted,” she says. And yet, speaking to her, she oozes an easygoing attitude, an unmistakable air of cool. She seems largely comfortable taking life as it comes. She’s not that interested in prescribing specific meanings with her pieces.“My business is just making the thing and putting it out there,” Gab says. “People ask, ‘What’s your message?’ It’s like, whatever message people want to put on it, then do it.”

“Sushi nails” was a commission for Montreal-based gel nail polish brand Gelcare, highlighting each of the shades of their Spring/Summer 2022 collection. “Gucci hot dog,” “Bread chairs,” and “Froot loops earrings” were personal creative works.

For Gab, the work isn’t about cultural critique, using food as a way to explore her childhood nostalgia. Midway through our interview, she smiles from ear to ear, recalling how her dad used to prepare her food. She says, “He would organize my plate in really pretty ways. He would say, ‘What animal do you want your cheese [to look like]?’” His influence is clear to Gab, who shares, “All I know about art I learned from him. But he also taught me very early on that playing with your food doesn’t mean being wasteful.” When possible, she uses ingredients in a non-destructive way and eats them after. Other times, she uses already expired food. “There’s this thing [called] sugar fudge in Québec that my grandmother and aunts would make. Dirty snow always reminded me of that,” says Gab. This memory inspired her image of a snow ice cream cone. For élément de base (EDB), a Montréal-based furniture company, she created a miniature loveseat made from lasagna, complete with ravioli cushions. In another piece, two chairs sit flanking a coffee table and a framed picture of a tropical beach — all made from bread. For the 2022 Milan Furniture Fair, Italian online fashion retailer Yoox asked Gab to make a piece for their Fluidity in Living Spaces exhibition. Gab took a literal approach, making a life-size sofa cast in clear resin, filled with shrimp and mixed vegetables, making reference to Jell-O-moulded dishes. There’s a symbiosis between Gab’s imagination and brands’ hunger to market themselves. What her images provide is versatility: EDB used her ravioli loveseat as an Instagram ad; Yoox turned the Jell-O sofa into a limited-edition art print; Nike licensed an image to print on T-shirts. Her work is a far cry from e-commerce product photography, where the goal is to showcase the actual product. She gets commissioned to create, and brands get to associate themselves with her cultural cachet. It all simply comes back to play for Gab.

56 photo ED

IG: @gabbois


photo ED 57


Have your cake and eat it too. Stuff yourself full of delicious bargains at the Spring Camera Fair on Sunday, May 28, 2023 at Trident Hall, 145 Evans Avenue, Toronto. It’s a buffet of pre-owned cameras, lenses and delectable vintage photo items. Need info? Visit the PHSC website.

www.phsc.ca


THE GALLERY

Check out the SUMMER 2023 DIGITAL ISSUE EXTRA ONLINE APRIL 1

1.

2.

1. DENIS CANHASI

2. KAREN STENTAFORD

Newmarket, ON RE/CONCEAL

Sackville, NB TEATIME TUESDAY From a series marking ten Tuesday photography classes. Lumen prints were a document of our time. Once the tea steeped, the

3. ingredients were placed on a piece of photographic paper and left to expose. Exposures varied based on the length of our conversations. www.stentaford.ca IG: @kdstentaford

3. DALE M REID Toronto, ON DESSERT PEARS 1 www.dalemreidphotography.com IG: @dalemreidphotography

photo ED 59


THE GALLERY SUBMISSIONS BY OUR READERS

1.

2.

3. 60 photo ED


BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE... Check out the SUMMER 2023 DIGITAL ISSUE ONLINE APRIL 1 to see more FOOD images by more Canadian photographers.

5.

ALSO FEATURING: COLIN ARTHURS RODERICK CHEN ERIC CHENGYANG JEROME CLARK SKIP DEAN ADRIAN DÉNOMMÉ AMANDA DEVISON CRYSTAL DREW L!N DUPERRON KATA ENDRODI ELENA GODEFROY AROSHALINY GODFREY SAMANTHA GOH ROB GRAHAM BRIAN GROBERMAN FATIMA HAIDAR CHRISTINA HAJJAR BLAIR IMMINK GARETH JONES EMMA JULIETTE SHERLAND BRIAN LAVERY ED MCDONOUGH JACK MCGUIRK TODD MCLELLAN MARIE-LOUISE MOUTAFCHIEVA BRENT MYKYTYSHYN TIM RAHRER GUN ROZE MARC SANTOS HEND SHAIKH-NAGI VITALII SOVHYRA ARIEL THOMAS ERYN TREVORS ARIANNE TUBMAN TRINA TURL MARK WANG SARAH WRIGHT QUEENIE XU

4.

1. NATALIE NADEAU Windsor, ON FERTILE natalienadeau.com

2. GRACE WANG Toronto, ON MEXICO, 2022 gracewang.format.com IG: @etheriel

3. LORETTA MEYER Kawartha Lakes, ON lorettameyerphotography.com IG: @lorettameyer.fineart

4. MELISSA REMPEL Cambridge, ON IN BALANCE melissarempel.com IG: @capturedby.melissa

5. DANIEL ALVARADO Toronto, ON danielalvarado.com IG: @dafotographer

6. FABIAN OTERO Fredericton, NB EDIBLE BEAUTY IG: @fabruk

+ MORE! 6.

Check it out online:

photoed.ca/digital-issue


THE GALLERY

KAMELIA PEZESHKI Toronto, ON

“UNTITLED,” FROM THE SCATTERED SERIES, 2014 Through a lens, translated into a single frame, even images of inanimate still-life objects such as food or flowers can form emotional connections to significant memories, for both the creator of the image and engaged viewers. www.kamelia-pezeshki.com IG:@kameliapezeshkiphotographer 62 photo ED

Check out the SUMMER 2023 DIGITAL ISSUE ONLINE APRIL 1


Edward Burtynsky’s iconic images have brought global attention to the impacts of human industry on the natural landscape. The Edward Burtynsky Collection at The Image Centre (IMC) is the world’s largest and most comprehensive institutional collection of work by this celebrated Canadian photographer. The IMC’s collections offer researchers, educators, students, and artists the remarkable opportunity to study firsthand works by photographers of international status.

33 Gould Street Toronto, Canada 416.979.5164 Admission is always free. theimagecentre.ca

Edward Burtynsky, Holland Marsh, Ontario, from the series Packing, 1983, chromogenic print © Edward Burtynsky/ Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto. The Edward Burtynsky Collection, The Image Centre, Gift of the artist, 2019


Canary Wharf Bikes by Jonathan Pearce

The fastest, smoothest, most precise photo editor for macOS, Windows and iPad Affinity Photo redefines the boundaries for professional photo editing software. With a meticulous focus on workflow it offers sophisticated tools for enhancing, editing and retouching your images in an incredibly intuitive interface with all the power and performance you need. Available for macOS, Windows and iPad – subscription-free at: affinity.serif.com/photo


Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.