URBAN LANDSCAPES
These are a few of a series of images made (obviously) in response to William
Jenkins’s 1975 exhibition (and book) New Topographics: Photographs of a
Man-Altered Landscape. What caught my attention – as it did many, was the
notion of a “style-less” photography that rendered the banal as well … banal!
Time has proved this a huge fiction of course for ironically, the stylistic effects of
the work of many of the represented photographers maintain a strong influence
to this day.
However, I did like the idea of minimizing the degree to which I imposed myself
upon the subject and still do.
This is not as easy as it sounds because the understandings of what makes
a “picture” in any given culture are deeply engrained in each of its members. In
the West – that is the “West” as shorthand for the privileged, educated, relatively
wealthy and secure “West” of Europe, North America and their adjuncts –
a “picture” can be made of anything by enclosing its image within a (usually)
rectangular frame. A camera being the ultimate picturing tool, subverting this
built-in nature is well – impossible but, being aware of that nature and trying to
subvert it does alter the kind of pictures one makes.
In these – and all the works in this series – my approach was to assess the site
that I wished to photograph and then attempt to determine exactly where to
place the camera so as to contain – and/or imply – the most information possible
relevant to what I believed that site to be about.
This approach still informs much of my work.
Regina, Saskatchewan
50° 26’ 55.86” N 104° 36’ 43.88” W
March 13. 1977
Cnr. of Roslyn Road & Osborne Street
Winnipeg, Manitoba
49° 52’ 48.08” N 97° 08’ 51.17” W
April 08, 1977
Behind 300, 27th. Street West
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
52° 08’ 08.26” N 106° 40’ 24.62”W
August 02, 1977
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Unrecorded Coordinates
August 02, 1977
Asquith, Saskatchewan
52° 08’ 02.79” N 107° 13’ 40.63” W
September 23, 1977
24th. St. NW & Connecticut Avenue
Washington, D.C.
38° 55’ 28.26” N 77° 03’ 09.64” W
November 14, 1977.
Behind 923, 5th Avenue,
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
52° 08’ 30.76” N 106° 39’ 21.59” W
September 28, 1978
Behind 906, 4th Avenue N.
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
52° 08’ 28.63” N 106° 39’ 21.55” W
September 28, 1978
Behind 411, Duchess Street,
Saskatoon Saskatchewan
52° 08’ 32.31” N 106° 39’ 21.15” W
October 04, 1978
Eaton Centre, Toronto, Ontario
43° 39’ 21.12” N 79° 22’ 53.02” W
March 02, 1979
Sparks Street, Ottawa Ontario
45° 25’ 20.36” N 75° 41’ 54.91” W
March 06, 1979