Frame of Mind: Viewpoints on Photography in Contemporary Canadian Art

Johanne M. Pelletier is an archivist and Ph.D. candidate in the history
and philosophy at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

This collection of articles examines the work of Canadian photographic
artists. Photographic art, while in development since the 1960s, did not
become prominent in Canada until the 1980s. The works described in this
collection are in the permanent collection of the Banff Centre’s
Walter Phillips Gallery.

Canadian artists, photographers, and art historians examine in these
articles works in the Phillips collection by Canadian photo artists
Shelagh Alexander, Raymonde April, Roy Arden, Dominique Blain, Kati
Campbell, Evergon, Mark Lewis, Susan McEachern, Susan Schelle, and Ian
Wallace. Each of the contributors comments on the politics of
representation in the construction of gender, history, and public and
private identity. The analysis emphasizes questions of
epistemology—specifically, how we know what we know, how this
knowledge is represented to ourselves and others, and finally, what role
these representations play in knowing what we know. This perspective is
most broadly and effectively applied in the introductory essay, by
Charlotte Townsend-Gault, entitled “Wavelength to Patter-nity:
Epistemology with a Camera.”

This collection deftly analyzes an extraordinary area of Canadian art
production in the context of social and political thought. The
black-and-white and color productions of the artists’ works provide
sufficient reference points for the reader’s understanding and
interpretation of the critiques. A background in art history or in
poststructuralist writing would facilitate understanding of much of the
material. An interesting compilation for those interested in the modern
photographic representation and critique of culture.