Opening Reception for Bertrand Carriere's "Lieux Memes" : Saturday, October 31st, 2-5pm The gallery is pleased to announce its fifth exhibition of work by Bertrand Carriere. In "Lieux Memes", Carriere retraces the footsteps of an unknown World War I photographer introduced to him through a photo album he discovered by chance.
In 2005, Carriere and historian Guth Desprez started to investigate the deeper history surrounding the found photo album. They travelled to Europe, with the photo album as their guide, in order to retrace the path of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. By photographing the locations in the soldier's images, Carriere explores the themes of memory and history through the changing landscape. They visited the long list of places marked by the horrendous battles of The Great War: the Somme in Picardy, Artois in the North Pas-de-Calais and up to the vast fields of Flanders in Belgium. Carriere's photographs document the sites which appear in the soldier's album along with others on the Western Front, offering a contemporary view approximately 90 years after the infamous events, which continue to stigmatize these locations to this very day. The incredible light of the regions of northern France and the flatness of the land helps Carriere build a sense of mystery. The photographs initiate dialogue about how the landscape was affected and the ways in which it has recovered. It is not only what is there or the evidence that remains, but also what is not there and the evidence of what no longer exists.
Carriere actively exhibits and publishes his work across Canada and in Europe. He has published four photographic books, which include Temoin de l'ombre (1995); Voyage a domicile (1997); Signes de jour (2002) and Dieppe, Landscapes and installations (2006) with Les 400 Coups. He also teaches photography at Andre-Laurendeau College in Montreal. Carriere's work can be found in many prominent collections, including the Bibliotheque Nationale de Paris, Paris; Cinematheque Quebecoise, Montreal; Canadian Centre of Architecture, Montreal; Canadian War Museum, Ottawa; Collection du Pret d'oeuvres d'art, Musee national des beaux-arts du Quebec, Quebec; Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Ottawa; Encontros da Imagem, Braga, Portugal; Pole Image de Haute-Normandie, Rouen, France; Maison Europeenne de la Photographie, Paris; Quebec; Canadian Council Art Bank, Ottawa; amongst many others.