BENT

SPAO is pleased to present ‘Bent,’ an exhibition featuring the photo-based work of Naomi Kronen, Ann Piché, S. Maria Brandt, and Allison Morris.

Drawing from mathematics, feminism, and queer theory, these artists employ both academic and community-based approaches in their work, exploring themes of corporeality, spatiality, and all things bizarre and peculiar. Altogether, the works in this exhibition touch on the precarity of living in a body, and the ways in which technology, social stigma, and the built environment influence the ways we bend and re-orient ourselves as we move through the world.

Featuring the work of
S. Maria Brandt
Naomi Kronen
Ann Piché
Allison Morris

Curated by:
Katie Lydiatt

Exhibition On View:
Saturday, November 11 - Saturday, December 17, 2023
Gallery Hours:
Wednesday - Sunday, 12PM - 5PM

Reception:
Friday, November 24, 5PM - 9PM
The SPAO Centre, 77 Pamilla St. 

S. Maria Brandt

S. Maria Brandt is a German-raised Croatian multidisciplinary artist working in Ottawa, Canada. She uses alternative processes, digital photography, post-production, and sculpture in her work.

Rooted in photographic history and theory, Maria recognizes both the potential and failure of traditional photo-based arts. She engages with contemporary trends to elevate and understand everyday objects and present the politicization and radicalization of the everyday. 

Naomi Kronen

Naomi Kronen is a multidisciplinary artist based on unceded Algonquin land, (so called “Ottawa”). Naomi utilises humour, performance strategies, and attentive sequencing to exhibit the unruliness and absurdity of everyday life. They often photograph themselves autobiographically, inviting the viewer to reflect and revisit their own selves. Naomi’s process is both intuitive and highly conceptual, yet all of their images undergo the same experimental process of careful minor or major post-production and manipulation.

Ann Piché

Ann Piché is a photo-based artist in Ottawa. Drawing on her experiences as the first female civilian member to work in the RCMP as an electronic technician, she constructs visual links between science and the arts. Created in-camera, Ann’s images are staged using real and constructed landscapes with custom built sets. Photographic abstraction is used in these images to reflect the anxiety we feel when facing the unfamiliar.

Allison Morris

Allison Morris is a fine art photographer based in Tkaronto/Toronto. Her practice explores themes of beauty, identity, performance, and the construction of femininity. Drawing on the history of women portrayed in art, she uses self-portraiture and traditionally feminized materials to challenge how we understand the feminine body and its relation to objects.