CUAG pictures the fall term

Carleton University Art Gallery (CUAG) is starting off the fall term with two new exhibitions.

Entitled Climats and I Remember and I Forget, the exhibitions focus on the work of photographers, Jocelyne Alloucherie and Justin Wonnacott.

In Jocelyne Alloucherie: Climats (Climates) large-scale installations combining photography, drawing, and architectural elements depict the natural world. However her interest lies not in exploring specific landscapes but in understanding our complex experiences of place more generally.

The violent sand and snow storms portrayed in Land of Blood and Land of Snow appear “real” but they are constructed by the artist using traditional and digital photographic technologies and a process of “drawing” with sand. Hovering on the brink of abstraction, Alloucherie’s images are both powerful and elusive. As the exhibition’s title signals, she is motivated by our growing awareness of climate change.

Climats will run from 7 September to 24 October.
Justin Wonnacott: I Remember and I Forget depicts fish caught and farmed around the world but purchased in Ottawa. Justin Wonnacott shoots his fish portraits at close range in the studio. His photographs raise questions about the food we eat.

In an era of consumer convenience, where food is plastic-wrapped for ready consumption, the images remind us of the lakes, oceans and rivers that produce our food.

Wonnacott’s images address the fragility of our “natural resources” and our responsibility for them. Our rampant consumption of swordfish, halibut, and marlin have made them as  scarce as Atlantic cod. The fish we eat, like the fish Wonnacott has photographed, have died for our sustenance, but also our pleasure.

I Remember and I Forget will be exhibited from September 7 to November 7.