Printed in 2008
81.28 x 101.6 cm
Exhibition Dates: November 1 – November 29, 2008
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 8, 2-5pm
Artist Talk in CAMERA: Saturday, November 8, 1pm
The gallery is pleased to present the first Canadian solo exhibition by American photographer Peter Brown.
Peter Brown (b. 1948, Northampton, Massachusetts), who studied art and literature at Stanford University, is an award winning photographer who has been dedicated to documenting the Western American landscape for the last twenty-five years.
Brown’s large format photographs pay homage to the people, land, and small towns of the Western Plains. The evidence that these images present describes the power struggle between nature and the people who occupy these lands. The deserted homes, boarded up shops and the endless possibility of open space is a testament of the hardships that the area’s inhabitants have endured. The series, “West of Last Chance”, is also the subject of a book in collaboration with American novelist Kent Haruf, published by W.W. Norton in 2008. Kent Haruf writes, “You have to know how to look at this country. You have to slow down. It isn’t pretty, but it’s beautiful.” Despite the initial appearance of unadorned images that present economic hardship, population loss, and environmental degradation, Brown’s precise composition captures the essence of the Western Plains and the culture of the people who inhabit it.
