Exhibition No. 21

April 17 - May 17, 2026
Reception: Friday, April 17 | 5:00PM - 9:00PM

The SPAO Photographic Arts Centre proudly presents EXHIBITION NO. 21, showcasing the outstanding work by students enrolled in the only 2-year photographic arts college diploma program in all of Canada.⁠

Over the course of their time at SPAO, students are provided the opportunity to experiment with digital, analogue and rare historic photographic processes, as well as engage in nuanced discussions in photographic theory. Industry leading educators and arts professionals help guide these students as they become the next generation of photo-based artists.⁠

RICCO

Born into foster care, where he remained until age eighteen, Ricco’s interest in photography began at eight when he received a plastic camera as a Christmas present. His initial curiosity has since evolved into a full-time creative practice.

Since 2023, his work has been displayed at several group exhibitions, including SPAO College Diploma Exhibition #s 19 and 20, the SPAO alumni exhibition: On the Shoulders of Giants, the juried exhibition “Mosaic 2025”, the Griffin Museum’s Winter Solstice 2025 Exhibition, and the City of Ottawa’s Hold True: 2025 Additions to the City of Ottawa Art Collection exhibition.

During the summer of 2026, Ricco will mount his first solo exhibition, at the City of Ottawa’s prestigious 45/75 Art Gallery.

His current work, entitled, “il mio viaggio” (my journey) is a self-portrait project which concerns challenging and exploring the life he was given. Scenes of darkness and stillness dominate this work.

What he does, what he photographs and how he lives all have a foundation of “feeling it”. Very little of what he does is pre-meditated or deliberate.

ADAM KENNEDY

Adam Kennedy is a photo maker, whose work creates an archive of the present, gathering imagery that captures the varying emotional experiences of everyday life. His work is grounded by two distinct pillars: capturing his own experiences of living with mental illness, as well as the experiences of others and our relationship with the natural world. Going beyond his subjects, he is interested in the physicality of the photograph itself and how the medium alters the way an image is read. As a photo maker, the method and tangibility of Kennedy’s works depart from a commercialized assumption of being a photographer, where intention is embedded in each photograph he creates.

THERESE KIRCHNER

Therese Kirchner is a neurodivergent experimental analogue photographer based in Ottawa. She works with colour negative, black-and-white, and Polaroid film, exploring the possibilities of photography through processes like film soup, mordançage, and emulsion manipulation. Chance, chemical reactions, and physical interventions shape each image, creating surfaces that shift, fragment, and respond to the materials themselves. Her work often includes self-portraiture, blending personal presence with landscapes and memory in states of transformation. Constantly evolving, her practice embraces experimentation, producing photographs that are familiar yet altered, fragile, and textured, capturing the fleeting and mutable qualities of place and perception.

ANN ELLIS

Ann Ellis is an Ottawa-based photographer whose work explores the quiet traces of human presence and absence as a way of considering belonging. Rooted in questions of public access and more personal investigations into family lineage, her practice examines how we inhabit, share, gain, and lose both public and private space, often through vulnerability and collaboration. Through underwater, ground-level, and aerial perspectives, she investigates relationships between places and the communities that inhabit them. Her work has been exhibited at the SPAO Photographic Arts Centre, Ottawa’s Exposure Gallery and Toronto’s CONTACT Photography Festival.

BECCA WEST

Becca West (b.2005) is an emerging mixed media artist from Ottawa. Her work incorporates historic, alternative and digital photographic processes. The act of documenting and preserving is a significant part of her practice as she has a strong interest in mortality and life, often using her own family archives and the natural world as influence.

ISHA BOUVRETTE-HUMBY

Isha Bouvrette-Humby is a photo-based digital photography artist living and working in Ottawa. She is in the process of establishing both an artistic and commercial practice. Her work centers on equine themes, reflecting a deep personal connection with horses. Through this lens, she explores identity, personal growth, and generational trauma, using the horse as a proxy through which she channels her emotions and memories to convey deeper personal meaning. Her work often carries a dark, nostalgic and peaceful atmosphere, evoking the sense that something is missing or left unsaid. While she primarily works in digital photography, she also has experience working with film and various alternative photographic processes.

LUCA BERMUDEZ

Luca Bermudez highlights the beauty found in both the natural world and the built environment, reminding viewers that not everything is defined by negativity. Through the use of platinum palladium printing, the work emphasizes permanence, subtle tonal depth, and the enduring presence of beauty in our surroundings.

DANNI ELSIE

Danni Elsie is a photo-based artist working with large format film, silver gelatin prints, dry plate tintypes, and other historical processes. Through these slow, tactile methods, Elsie creates an intimate space for each work to resonate. Her process explores the years spent untangling the internal narrative of her youth which framed her as the source of disorder. Photography became a way to confront and reframe that history. She retains her control through self-portraiture. Elsie uses the intimacy of the analog processes to explore the body as a site of both memory and resistance.

BEAR WILLIAM

Bear William is an emerging queer artist, born in Ottawa, ON. He explores themes of identity, sexuality, queerness, and intimacy through an autobiographical lens. Bear’s work makes the queer body a both subject and a site of expression, challenging conventional representations while embracing vulnerability and identity. Experimenting with different printing techniques, he aims to extend his photographs beyond traditional formats, creating tactile, immersive pieces that echo the softness and complexity of human connection. Through Bear’s practice, he seeks to create a sense of recognition, closeness, and sonder, inviting viewers to engage with and recognize the layered realities of the self and the quiet power of the queer presence in todays world.

Interested in applying to our two-year college diploma program? Learn more about the program, the work of past students, and alumni achievements by clicking any of the images below.