The SPAO Centre Gallery proudly presents EXHIBITION NO. 15, featuring the 2020 graduating class from SPAO’s 2-year Diploma Program.

While the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has impacted arts and culture on a global scale, the School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa has defied the odds to deliver EXHIBITION No. 15. Many diploma programs in Canada were forced to move their graduating exhibitions online or cancel them altogether, SPAO is proud to be able to honour our students’ dedication and hard work with a thoughtful in-person exhibition to mark their rite of passage. Exhibition No. 15 celebrates the work of our diploma students and highlights the work of the 2020 graduating class.

EXHIBITION NO. 15 is a testament to the strength, flexibility and resilience of our students to focus on their work and launch their careers during this trying time. It is the celebration of a milestone that marks their journey into an uncertain future. SPAO is proud to present this new generation of contemporary photographers and photo-based artists who are more ready than ever to tackle what lies ahead. 

Help support these new artists by joining us at the gallery this September, and be sure to spread the word. Keeping in mind health and safety best practices, SPAO will also have digital and virtual offerings distributed through our social media channels. 

The exhibition will be on view from Saturday September 5th - Sunday September 20th. 

DAVID ALDRIDGE

David Aldridge has moved from a psychiatrist and photographer to a lens-based artist through his education at SPAO.  

The Cat

The Cat is the wise understanding observer, quietly taking the time to see and hear what happens. Like a therapist, the Cat is amazed by the ways that humans cause themselves distress and misery. By watching and listening, the Cat takes the first steps to support and reassure.

These figures were used in play therapy to allow children to express hidden thoughts and emotions. The toys work for me in the same way. The toys tapped into my inner world and allowed its expression. In the past, I looked forward to a better future, whereas now I see darkness. I now know the day to day distortions from media, social media and influencers who wish to make our beliefs and choices. While most of us recognize the blatant misuse and dysfunction in politics, we may miss the more pervasive and more subtle influences in our day to day lives.

Links
Website - davidaldridgephotography.ca
Instagram – davidaldridgephotographs
Email – information@davidaldridgephotographs.ca

OLIVER BROWN

Oliver Brown is an emerging photo-based artist whose current body of work titled “Volumes.” evokes a sense of timelessness depicting places that echo long-forgotten memories. His Images offer an often-ambiguous narrative with a subtle ethereal essence.  Brown has a fascination with the Golden Age of Hollywood movies and his pictures are likened to movie stills of his own imagination.  He cites inspiration from Edward Hopper for his paintings of quiet, isolation and loneliness 

“It is really a matter of ending this silence and solitude, of breathing and stretching one's arms again.” ― Mark Rothko

Links
Instagram - @oliver.brown99

ALEXANDER MACLEAN

LEX is a photographer and digital artist based out of Ottawa. His work explores themes of power in our systems and structures, including:

Housing and Urban Development, Class Politics, & Economic Violence. A former journalism and political science student, he aims to educate people about complex issues in an accessible manner. 


HOUSING CRISIS OTTAWA is a project chronicling the changes faced by this city as a result of an out-of-control housing market and housing politics that favour developers, landlords, and real estate speculators.

On January 29th, 2020, the city of Ottawa declared a housing and homelessness crisis. It was the first city in Canada to do so. This event confirmed what workers and students in Ottawa already knew -— rent was too high, and had been for years.

This photo series chronicles how the housing crisis in Ottawa has manifested itself visually. It tells a story of gentrification; of a city increasingly dominated by glass and steel luxury condos and modern infills; it tells of the loss of architectural history and culture, of neighbourhoods changing as they become dominated by investment capital and newer, wealthier social demographics.

It is a documentation of our current moment — what was, what is, and the bleak future we can expect if we don’t reevaluate this dysfunctional system.

MARGO MCDIARMID

Margo McDiarmid is an emerging artist with an interest in documentary photography - capturing the human experience in unguarded and unstaged moments. Her practice is influenced by more than 30 years as a journalist, eight of those working in the Northwest Territories.

McDiarmid project Minus 20 is a photo essay on the true reality of winter in Ottawa. It focuses on the love-hate relationship many people in the city have with winter and the daily grey slog of what often seems to be an endless season.

The photos were produced using a digital camera starting on the first snowfall in November 2019 until the last storm in March of this year. She plans to continue her photography work on the theme of cold this winter. 

Links
Instagram - @mcdiarmm 

MARCELA OCHMAN

Marcela Ochman is originally from Czechoslovakia but presently lives in Ottawa, Ontario. Ochman is an emerging photo-based artist with a great devotion to her art and photography practice. Her genres include architecture, studio portraiture, still life and landscape. 

Ochman also like to express herself in artwork by hand using the multimedia technique, or alternative processes for black and white photographs.

In the Darkness is a project about her unforgettable experience of the Soviet-led army invasion of her homeland Czechoslovakia on August 21, 1968. In one horrifying night, the whole nation’s life changed forever. The hope for freedom and democracy was abruptly lost. 

Ochman created a view on the dramatic events during the first week of the army invasion through the use of multimedia collage. Her use of paper reproductions of historical documentary photographs, still-life objects, as well as her own photo-based work attempts to capture the feeling of scattered, terrifying moments. The piece both shows the strong national unity but also honours shooting victims from that first week. The accompanying book visually describes the life of Czech people along the twenty years of the Soviet occupation.

“My project is not only about the army occupation of my Motherland, it also represents the importance of any nation’s freedom and democracy around the world.”

Marcela Ochman has had numerous group and solo gallery exhibitions in Ottawa, as well as in her homeland Czech Republic.

KATE ROY

Kate Roy is an Emerging Canadian visual artist and has found a passion for research within the art world. Discovery, Analysis and examination are major aspects of conducting her bodies of work. She primarily utilizes historical film processes within her work and tends to jump between mediums depending on the message she is conveying. 

 Kate has received her Photography Diploma from the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design in 2016 and won the Mary-Ellen Nealis Award for the top photographer of her graduating year. Since 2015 Kate has participated in 7 group exhibitions, was awarded the 2019 Luna Bursary grant, and has self-published Six Photo-based books titled; With the Wind, It’s all about you, Affinity, Evon Stremel Roy, A Beautiful collection, and Beneficiary.

Beneficiary looks at the stages of my grief after my father’s passing in 2017. Webbing together poetry, letters to my father,  Scanning objects that I had found from his life and documenting my families heritage lead me to re-visiting who my father may have been. Photographing my experience of grieving him was my way to ensure I was coping in a way that lead to healthy healing. This process became a form of closure to me, especially now that Beneficiary is complete in book form and The Wall sits framed.  

Building The Wall was only a fraction of Beneficiary’s process. My inheritance didn’t just consist of loose photographs, but, to my surprise, I found small objects that my father, or maybe even my grandmother, had kept for their own benefit. There were things that were just interesting to find and things that had been kept from me when I would visit. There were things that I didn’t think held any memorial merit at all until I re-discovered them for myself. I found myself documenting these delicate things, keeping a record of what felt the most important to me during the time of my grieving. 

Links

Instagram - @K.ATE.RO.Y
Website - www.kateroyphoto.com

STEVE WEST

Steven West is a fine art photographer with a practice centred around innovative techniques of combining photographic art and science.

Building on his personal experiences as an innovator and technologist, West is exploring the diversity of life and the impact of technology shaping our futures. His image making seeks to balance the narrative of objectivity derived from research in science and technology, juxtaposed with expressions of emotion and meaning, visualized when art and science collide.

His most recent work, entitled Beautiful Minds, is both an exhibition and a book, of images, portraits and stories that unravel the mysteries of the human brain and explore the consciousness of people with lived experiences of substance use disorders. The Beautiful Minds project evolved combining images of brains and recording inspiring stories of people with lived experiences of addictions, alongside photographs of those very same people who were willing and open to share their experiences. 

Links
Instagram: @cyclosteve
Website: https://www.stevewestlens.com/

STÉPHANE ALEXIS

Stéphane Alexis is an emerging lens-based artist, with a background in business. His work stems from his personal experiences, demographics, and sub demographics in which he belongs. His focus is both conceptual design with aesthetic quality. His desire is to bring attention, focus, and transparency to people and communities who are tucked away due to the hardships they face, and the unwillingness we have as people to acknowledge those hardships. He uses these qualities as a conduit to give insight on issues and circumstances facing these communities both locally and globally through the subjects. He believes that we can only come to solutions if we identify issues, and we can do this by communicating openly with each other and allow the negativity and difficulties to come to the surface. He uses the print, screens, projections, etc. as the surface in which these narratives are displayed.

Chains and Crowns is a project highlighting the authentic heritage of African American hairstyles. This heritage is expressed through the project, as well as the installation, arranging the images into the NSAA African symbol for excellence, genuineness, and authenticity. The purpose of this project is to bring attention to the influences these communities have had on the global culture, influences the global culture has on the African American community, as well as the roots of customs we celebrate today. As humans, when we’re aware of a history in which we have overcome hardships through creativity and determination, we can be confident in our abilities to replicate and advance those efforts for the betterment of both ourselves, and society.

Links
Website - stephanealexis.com
Instagram - @stephane_alexis

ALEX FINLAY

Alex Finlay is an emerging photo-based artist using large format and alternative processes. His project Threads looks at how uniform, costume and dress are essential elements of individuality, and can be seen as immediate signifiers of identity, blurring the line between truth and connotation. Throughout the process, he documents people in uniform, or dressed in immediately recognizable clothing in contemporary culture. 

I have taken an interest in costume and uniform because of an earlier ongoing project on drag queens. I began to see drag in a new light and discovered the experimental nature of dress, fashion and performance of gender on stage. I associated this performance with uniforms when I started to question what these performers  do outside of their drag persona. 

The project touches on a very broad topic that questions our societal norms and where individuals can push those norms that shape how one sees themselves and their identity. My portraits personify confidence, vulnerability, stereotypes and gender roles.

Links
Instagram: @alex5finlay
Email - finfin.ale5@gmail.com

AVA MARGUERITTE

Ava Margueritte is a multi-disciplinary artist, primarily focused on photo-based works along with drawing, painting, and writing. Margueritte has a BFA from OCAD University in Fine Arts Photography and is currently studying at School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa. Using a variety of photographic mediums including, but not limited to, medium format, large format film and digital, Margueritte explores different narratives to document physical reactions to different emotional states. By absorbing her surroundings she evaluates the connection between body and mind.  

 By using her body and gender she creates a broader dialogue about women’s representation in the art world while looking at her own place within society. By looking at herself introspectively she is able to produce thought-provoking imagery. She draws upon her own personal experiences and the grey area between childhood and her own experience growing up.

“Living with dyslexia has made it difficult to communicate my experiences. Self-portraiture is a way to navigate my feelings before they boil over and manifest into something else. By channeling these emotions I am able to document specific moments in my life that verbally I am otherwise unable to relay. Confronting my past allows me to process and grieve my former self, letting go of what once in order to embody the present.”

Links
Website - avamargueritte.format.com
Instagram - @avamargueritte

DIANA MCKINNON

 Diana McKinnon had an idyllic childhood ( at least in terms of wild beauty) in the temperate rainforest of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. She is a graduate of SPAO and a fine art photographer influenced by a background in fashion.

As a photographer I don’t walk around with a camera in my hand, shooting whatever catches my eye. I have an inspiration and I let it gestate, sometimes for years, and then I shoot it once, with as much precision as I can muster.  The vision itself is as much emotional, vibrational and instinctual, as it is actual. I use the structure and power of ritual, as well as subconscious and subliminal energies to coax forth the final result. My every day life is a rumination on creation. The elements of the spell have to be exactly right and it takes time and dedication to gather them. Don’t get hung up on my words - a spell is just prayer. A psychically annotated, moving meditation. 

This work is a conversation with God, about death. It’s an expression of grief, but also reverence.  

My use of the horse skull is a reference to death, as well as freedom from mortality. However, this particular object is also a reference to the work of Georgia O’Keefe. The skull is a marker, as well as a visual experience, which evokes the mystery of being (alive) mortal in human consciousness. That is exactly why some people find it unpleasant. I find it poignant and organically stunning. A kind of natural perfection.

I use the model as a stand-in for my own spirit - as well as a representation of youth. The delicacy of her form stands in direct opposition to the skull. Her nudity is an invocation.

Links
Instagram - @dianalaurencory

LOUISE RADMORE

Louise Radmore has been a student of the Photographic Arts since her teenage years. Having recently retired from a successful business career, she is a new graduate of the diploma program at SPAO. She is now free to follow her passion for people and speak her truth through her images. 

Her mission is to show us that “We are all so much more alike, than different”.  It is a simple message but one that resonates in these divisive times. In her words, “If you engage with the humanity of my images, I have been successful.”

For this graduation exhibition, Louise is showcasing four portraits of real people. These images are from three different ongoing series; Twins, First Responders, and Cinderella, a study of preteen girls. These images are being exhibited together to highlight the strength and individuality of girls and women. Each subject, while unique, must share the challenging path to self realization, as women in these socially transitional times. Who will we be, now that we are free to choose…?

Links
Email - louise@louiseradmore.ca
Instagram - @louisepointofview
Facebook - Louise.Radmore

SHAELYNN TREDENICK

Shaelynn Tredenick is an emerging photo-based artist in Ottawa. She recently graduated from SPAO and previously from the photography program at Algonquin in 2018. She brings style and movement from her past in competitive dance to her work. Tredenick’s practices involves scanography of still life and botanicals. She will continue to expand her knowledge and skill in this art form in the future. 

This project revolves around memory and connection. Since the day she started to remember, her mother would create their backyard into an oasis with bright beautiful flowers and plants. She did not understand why her mother was so connected to gardening since all life form die at some point.  After receiving her first dried plant while experimenting with an unpopular medium, she felt the same bond her mother does to her backyard escape. Tredenick is no green thumb in the slightest. She tends to forget to give them life in which case can never have any real plants. Having given most of her collection from a fellow artist, she now dries her own at home and continues to expand her assembly of dried life form. Shaelynn creates her work out of emotion and sensation. She explains that the feeling of being able to control an orgasm how she wants makes her feel empowered to her craft. 

Creating a story usually comes afterwards. She loves to observe her response while making a piece first. Tredenick hopes that every viewer will perceive her art in their own way before reading a statement. 

Links

Instagram - @shaelynntredenick 
Email - shaelynntredenick@gmail.com

SPAO GRADUATES INTERVIEWED ON CBC

Listen to Ottawa staple Alan Neal as he interviews 2020 graduates Margo McDiarmid and Stephane Alexis and talks about their work and the future of student graduations in Ottawa.

APT613 FEATURE EXHIBITION

Ottawa’s go-to collective for everything culture related in Ottawa lists EXHIBITION NO. 15 as one of the exhibitions to see this fall!

IN-DEPTH FEATURE FROM CARLETON UNIVERSITY

Carleton University’s independent weekly newsletter The Charlatan interviews both students and staff for an in-depth look at how COVID-19 has affected the exhibition. Reporter Marieta-Rita Osezua looks at the exhibition from all angles.