Catherine Bodmer – DUO
From September 2 to October 9, 2010
Opening reception : Thursday September 2 at 8pm
At Clark Centre, Montreal

http://www.clarkplaza.org
http://www.catherinebodmer.com

The subjects of Catherine Bodmer’s photographs are spaces with uncertain or precarious functions. The ambivalent nature of these bare places, from frozen lakes to roadways and vacant lots, derives from their potential to change over time and according to the various ways they can be occupied. This idea of transformation, which is central to Bodmer’s work, is developed in the splitting and alteration of her photographs which, in both their structure and their tiniest details, call for active observation.

Contrary to what these diptychs might at first glance suggest, they never take the form of complete symmetry. While various mirror effects are already present in the spaces being photographed, digital deconstruction and reconstruction of landscapes, people, buildings and objects highlights their duplication. In not matching completely, however, their similitude is broken and doubt is sown as to the plausibility of the places and situations depicted.

While some of Bodmer’s images may suggest they are fictional, a momentary halt in an unfolding story, they avoid narrative. The works in the exhibition DUO illustrate this parallel through the staging of characters following various paths which sometimes seem to run through the works, from one photograph to the next. The resulting movement thus affords new readings without evading the eternal return to the image in question. - Aseman Sabet

Bio: Originally from Switzerland, Catherine Bodmer lives and works in Montreal since 1996. Her art practice includes installations, site-specific interventions and more recently, photographic works that have been presented in several individual and group exhibitions throughout Canada, as well as in Mexico and Taiwan. In 2008, she received the Duke and Duchess of York Prize of Photography of the Canada Council for the Arts, and in 2010, she was doing an art residency in Mexico City supported by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.

The artist aknowledges the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, as well as the Centre Sagamie and the Clark team for their support and generosity.