Si(gh)t[e] Lines is a group exhibition of photographs by artists Peggy Taylor Reid, Richelle Forsey, Carolyn Cheng and Ariyo. Here, the artists’ individual bodies of works are presented as a collective narrative through their shared concerns for the Earth’s ecology, explored using different approaches and techniques with photography. On the contemporary role of photography in society, essayist Susan Sontag wrote in 1973, “To photograph is to confer importance.” The exhibition Si(gh)t[e] Lines accords this idea of value to the contemporary landscape seen through photographs by four artists converging processes, witnessing, and looking to explore the social urgency of ecological imbalances.
Ariyo is a lens-based artist working in photography, the book format, video and installation. Their practice is research based and unfolds through playful material explorations. Their most recent project explores themes of landscape photography, geography of deep time, and geological history of the rocky shores of Georgian Bay near Parry Sound. Ariyo holds a BFA in photography from Toronto Metropolitan University and a BA in Visual Studies from University of Toronto. They currently live and work in Toronto.
Carolyn Cheng is an artist whose work re-examines traditional elements of landscape photography from an abstract aerial perspective by transforming water, sand and earth, to investigate aspects of the feminine sublime in the natural world. She has shown at Gallery 44, the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, the Paul H. Cocker Gallery and Remote Gallery. Cheng’s images have been published in On Landscape, Elements and Photo Ed Magazines. She has also received awards from Critical Mass’ Top 200, the Prix de la Photographie Paris and the International Photography Awards.
Richelle Forsey is a process-based artist and photographer. Her photography employs both digital strategies and analogue processes that investigate photographic possibilities in our image-led environment, communicate stories, and examine human activity on the landscape.Through her work she explores themes of grief, resilience, power, exploration, and slow looking. Her work has been shown in Canada, the U.S. and abroad, as well as collaboratively in the Contact Photography Festival, Nuit Blanche, and CAFKA. Forsey is the Photography Technician at the University of Guelph’s School of Fine Art & Music.
Peggy Taylor Reid uses both a traditional and an alternative lens and weaves together an investigation of the ubiquity of post-consumer waste, sustainability, food insecurity and habits of consumption. She is a recipient of grants from the Canada Council and Ontario Arts Council, and her work can be found in private and public collections. She has received awards for her self-portrait collages and her work has been published in Prefix Photo issue 2, Serviette issue 2 Food is Consumption, and PhotoED Food Issue. She has participated in several artist residencies and professional workshops in Canada and abroad. Peggy Taylor Reid is represented by Lonsdale Gallery in Toronto.
