John Conway
Selections of photographs from Conway's book have been exhibited at galleries in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; Calgary, Alberta; and in Toronto and Ottawa, Ontario. Individual photographs have been included in various group exhibitions, including: The International Photography Awards, Los Angeles, CA;
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The Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA; Golden Light Awards, Rockport, MN; The Art of Photography Show, San Diego, CA; The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO. Several prints of these photographs are in the collection of the Saskatchewan Arts Board.
John Conway's work is represented by Drabinsky Gallery in Toronto, Ontario.
Statement
This selection of pictures comes from my book Saskatchewan: Uncommon Views published in 2005 by The University of Alberta Press. Collectively, the photographs tell something of the story of this place that was my home for much of my adult life.
In describing the photographs, I can do no better than borrowing words of reviewers of the book. Richard Holden of Border Crossings notes, "The photographs are an extended set of variations on a theme of how to photograph prairie, while in their content, they succeed admirably in presenting a contemporary, ironic, humorous, semiotic tour of a people’s conflicted relationship with an always contrary, yet often starkly beautiful land.” Larissa Leclair from Photo-Eye Magazine states, “Conway’s expanses are devoid of people....There is indeed a presence of habitation, though, in most of the photographs. Yet there is a profound quietness in all of them". In 2007, Michael Payne of the Canadian Book Review Annual commented that, “The images are not just finely composed photographs or conventionally beautiful landscapes. In almost every image, the beauty derives from an intriguing--sometimes almost imperceptible--human impact on the physical world." Christopher Wiebe, of the UVE Weekly wrote, “A book that is soul-searching, ironic, invigorating, depressing, demystifying, and yet, in the end, that celebrates the enduring power of the place and the transformative potential of dreams.”
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