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public archives, titles includeLa Coˆte-du-Sud: Belle
acroquer(He ́bert, 2003) andLes Iˆles-de-la-Made- leine(Roy, 2004). These works and others draw in part from the numerous public archives of photo- graphs in Canada, the most important being the National Archive in Ottawa, the Archives Natio- nales du Que ́bec (in Que ́bec City and Montre ́al), the archives of the National Film Board of Canada, in Montre ́al, and the archives of the Cine ́- matheque que ́be ́coise, in Montre ́al. Important col-
lections of photographs can also be found at The
Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography
in Ottawa, at the McCord Museum in Montre ́al, in
newspaper archives, and in those of many religious
institutions. The Canadian Press Photo Archives,
for example, holds more than 85,000 images taken
by Canadian photojournalists.
The decades at the end of the twentieth century
made many Canadians aware of the artistic possi-
bilities of photography. In fact, it is contemporary
photography that made a whole generation of art
enthusiasts care about visual arts. Confluence:
Contemporary Canadian Photography, by Martha
Hanna, Director of the Canadian Museum of Con-
temporary Photography, summarizes the contri-
bution of some of Canada’s most interesting
artist-photographers. It includes works by such
leading figures as Michael Snow, Lynne Cohen,
Genevie`ve Cadieux, Geoffrey James, and Jeff
Wall, all of whom have achieved recognition be-
yond Canadian borders.
One of Canada’s most famous experimental
artists abroad, Michael Snow has produced
multidisciplinary works which have been an ins-
piration for many English-Canadian artists. Film-
maker, visual artist, composer, he has produced
notable photographic works and art videos since
the early 1960’s. An example of his complex, the-
oretically-based work is Manifestation (1999), a
life-sized self portrait, in which Snow mixes a
plastic lamination of a color ink-jet photograph
with spray paint, black paper, and a mirror. This
unusual photograph can be seen as a new take on
a previous work,Authorization(1969); both works
are in the collection National Gallery of Canada,
in Ottawa.
Among contemporary photographers, there are
those who practice more traditional types of photo-
graphic representation, such as Clara Gutsche, who
in herThe Convent Seriesshowed respectfully the
everyday life of cloistered nuns during the 1990s.
Edward Burtynsky, born in St. Catherines, Ontario
in 1955, is a leading photojournalist and environ-
mental photographer who has made an international


reputation with his large-scale, color photographs
of mines, quarries, recycling yards from Canada
and the United States, ship-dismantling facilities in
Bangladesh, and a documentation of the Three
Gorges project in China titledBefore the Flood.
At the end of the twentieth century, Montre ́al
attracted photographers from all horizons—Lynne
Cohen (born in Wisconsin), Bertrand Carrie`re
(born in Ontario), Raymonde April (born in Mon-
cton, New Brunswick)—all of whom gained in-
ternational reputations. Among other notable
Canadian artists and contemporary photographers
are Patrick Altman (born in France, in 1950), Gen-
evie`ve Cadieux (born in Montre ́al in 1955), and
Charles Gagnon, Thaddeus Holownia, Geoffrey
James (born in 1942, in St. Asaph, Wales), Ken
Lum, Diana Thorneycroft, Jeff Wall, (born in
1946, near Vancouver, British Columbia), Ian Wal-
lace, and Jin-Me Yoon. Many of them share a
common taste for abstraction and formal research.
Many of these photographers were first seen in the
prestigious biennial expositionMois de la Photoin
Montre ́al. Since 1989, this event has celebrated
current trends in photography in Canada and
abroad, with exhibitions, events, festivals, confer-
ences, and workshops.
Many of the most active Canadian photogra-
phers both at home and abroad exemplify the
most advanced of emerging international trends.
Experiences in so-called ‘‘rephotography,’’ a type
of appropriation, were explored by Andrzej Macie-
jewski in his book, After Notman (2003). The
photographs made by William Notman, his sons,
and associates between 1890 and 1911 and were
taken again by photographer Andrzej Maciejewski
(b. 1959), using the same lens format, respecting the
angle and viewpoint of original from almost a cen-
tury removed. Most photographs concentrate on
Montre ́al and give striking examples of the urbani-
zation and modernization that have occurred in
most North American cities.
Another book using rephotography created a
parallel between old and recent photographs of
sites located in Que ́bec City. Written by historian
Jean Provencher, with new versions of old photo-
graphs made by Jocelyn Paquet,Que ́bec, les images
te ́moignent(2001) also includes photographic post-
cards from the early twentieth century.
Research into holography has also been a com-
mon concern of advanced Canadian photographers.
Marie-Andre ́e Cossette, a professor at Universite ́
Laval, has specialized in holography since 1976.
She was the first scholar worldwide to author a fine
arts master’s thesis on the topic. As an artist, she

CANADA, PHOTOGRAPHY IN

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