RESIDUE

September 22 - November 5, 2023

SPAO is pleased to present ‘RESIDUE,’ an exhibition featuring the photo-based work of Jamie Potvin, Grant Stirton, Justin M. Millar, and David Aldridge.

Exploring themes of time, history, and refuse, these four artists are engaged in a process of object preservation. Potvin rescues discarded darkroom prints, recontextualizing them as art objects; Stirton visits an underwater theme park at the bottom of the St. Lawrence River, paying homage to those who lost their lives to the waterway; Millar shows us the imminent destruction of an object impeded by a bullet in front of our eyes; and Aldridge invites us to view the engineering traces left carved into the Cape Breton landscape. Brought together, this exhibition explores that which gets left behind and discarded in the wake of human impact.

Featuring the work of
Jamie Potvin
Grant Stirton
Justin M. Millar
David Aldridge

Curated by:
Katie Lydiatt

Exhibition On View:
Friday, September 22 - Sunday, November 5, 2023
Gallery Hours:
Wednesday - Sunday, 12pm - 5pm

Reception:
Friday, September 29, 5PM - 8PM
The SPAO Centre, 77 Pamilla St. 

Jamie Potvin

Jamie Potvin is an interdisciplinary artist-educator primarily working with light-based media, drawing and clay. They graduated from SPAO in 2012, later completing their BFA at Concordia University. Their material practice is firmly positioned in the act of teaching, and viewed through being mad, ill and queer; accordingly demonstrating that the tactile ways in which we come to know things is critical to these intersections of self and community. Light-responsive work permits them to push against the edges of photographic form, showing the forces images and light can exert on our understanding. Originally from Rockland in Eastern Ontario, they now make in their studio in the Gatineau Hills.

Sere more work by Jamie Potvin here.

Grant Stirton

Grant Stirton is a photo-based artist residing between Ottawa, Canada and West Palm Beach, Florida, USA.  Specializing in marine environments, his passion for exploring the natural world is informed by his experience as a photojournalist and marine expedition guide. He explores themes related to the conservation of marine habitats, species at risk and water security, reflecting on the human impact and voicing a need for stewardship.  His practice synthesizes modern and historical processes, as he works across digital and analog formats, producing hand-made platinum, silver and archival pigment prints. 

See more work by Grant Stirton here.

Justin M. Millar

Justin M. Millar is a photo-based artist from Ottawa, Ontario. Millar is interested in the portrayal of human activity nestled within the vastness of the natural world. He balances a sense of voyeurism and sublime awe in order to challenge viewers to reconsider the familiar. The resulting images contain structured symmetry, instilling an idea that everything is where it is meant to be.

See more work by Justin M. Millar here.

David Aldridge

David Aldridge is a photo-based artist, and formerly physician, psychiatrist and therapist, educated at the University of London, Memorial University of Newfoundland and University of Edinburgh. He holds a Fellowship in the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and is Member of the Royal College of College of Psychiatrists. He holds diplomas in Photography from Ryerson University and the School of the Photographic Arts, Ottawa.

See more work by David Aldridge here.