top of page
  • Writer's picturePhotoED Magazine

KNOW THEIR NAMES - QUICK FACTS - CONTEMPORARY

We feel it’s about time that these photographers of CONTEMPORARY note were acknowledged, and their names become known to every Canadian photo-nerd!


Here are a few people we think you should know, and some QUICK facts as to WHY...

(Consider this an incomplete cheat-sheet, in no particular order)




BARBARA ASTMAN

IS KNOWN FOR:

  • Self-portraits + red objects

  • But, more then that, a very long list of national and international exhibitions, publications, and installations of her work.

  • She's a professor at OCAD U

  • She's in our encyclopedia!

READ MORE - HERE

 

LYNNE COHEN

IS KNOWN FOR:

  • BIG pictures of weird empty places

  • Awards include, the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts + the inaugural Scotiabank Photography Award.

  • Tones of international exhibitions + books and stuff. Too long to list...

MORE ABOUT LYNNE - HERE

 

JUNE CLARK

IS KNOWN FOR:

  • Deeply personal and poetic mixed media photo-based artwork.

  • Her work often refers to growing up in Harlem, and often integrates her street photography.

  • A national and international reputation with a life-long list of exhibitions and work in collections, including the AGO, and National Gallery of Canada.

READ MORE - HERE.

 

RUTH KAPLAN

IS KNOWN FOR:

  • Naked people bathing! and years worth of gently documenting people's daily lives.

  • Lots of exhibitions and publications listed on her CV + she shares her talents as an educator in Toronto as well.

  • Represented by Stephen Bulger Gallery


SEE MORE - HERE.



+

Get the ULTIMATE CANADIAN PHOTO NERD TOTE Bag

featuring a few of these celebrated names. ORDER yours today - HERE.


 

Hannah Maynard

DINA GOLDSTEIN

IS KNOWN FOR:

  • Staged pop surrealist photographs that challenge societal myths. Fallen princess', Barbie dolls, and American presidents feature.

  • Dina's list of feature exhibitions is longer than all the Disney Princess movies combined.

  • Check her out on CBC

  • READ MORE about her HERE.


 

NAOMI HARRIS

IS KNOWN FOR:

  • Photographing real people in all their quirky glory.

  • Book projects: Haddon Hall Hotel; America Swings; and E.U.S.A.

  • Road-trips and adventures, including canoeing for 70 days, wearing a 19th century period costume.

  • Her super-cute side-kick, rescue dog Maggie.

  • SEE MORE - HERE.



 



LAURA JONES

IS KNOWN FOR:

  • Founding the FIRST photography gallery in Canada. Her space also welcomed and encouraged women to use her darkroom at a time when darkrooms were not accessible to women in Toronto.

  • She documented her life in Toronto, and in the US, always with a lens towards equity and civil rights.

  • Her images from the1968 Poor People's Campaign (PPC), a mass demonstration that followed after the death of Martin Luther King, are hosted in numerous museums and galleries internationally.

  • She organised the first photo exhibition in Canada, BY women.

  • She now focus' on researching the work of women in Canadian photo history lost or neglected in archives.

READ MORE - HERE.




 



LAURENCE PHILOMENE

IS KNOWN FOR:

  • Extreme colour

  • A non-binary transgender artist coming of age amid the rise of social media.

  • Laurence's work has been published and exhibited internationally, and Laurence presented at the 2019 Cannes Lyons festival.

  • FOLLOW Laurence - HERE.




 

DANA CLAXTON

IS KNOWN FOR:

  • Beautifully crafted studio shots that reference Indigenous history, culture, beauty and spirituality.

  • Hunkpapa Lakota filmmaker, photographer, and performance artist.

  • Winner of the 2020 Governor General's Award + the Scotiabank Photography Award.

READ MORE - HERE.










 

SANDRA BREWSTER

IS KNOWN FOR:

  • The 'Blur' series

  • She has been recognized for her community-based practice that centres around Black presence in Canada.

  • She's in our encyclopedia!

SEE MORE HERE.

 

JIN-ME YOON

IS KNOWN FOR:

  • 'Souvenirs of the Self' series of self-portraits, where she places herself at well-known tourist hot spots.

  • South Korean-born internationally active she uses performance, photography and video to explore themes of identity as it relates to citizenship, culture, ethnicity, gender, history, nationhood and sexuality.

SEE MORE - HERE.

 

LORRAINE GILBERT

IS KNOWN FOR:

  • Her work focus' on landscape and raising questions about the social and economic aspects of land and nature.

  • She won the Karsh Award in 2003 for her commitment to artistic excellence in photo-based art.

  • She has been teaching art and photography for the past 25 years, and is currently the Director of the Visual Arts Department at the University of Ottawa.