Reception for the Artist: Saturday, November 26, 2016, 2-5pm
The gallery is pleased to present “Frontière, Frontiera, Grenze”, our fourth solo exhibition of work by Canadian photographer Scott Conarroe.
“Frontière, Frontiera, Grenze” considers the moveable boundaries that select Alpine states devised in response to glacial melting and drifting watersheds. As permafrost in the Alps retreats to cooler elevations, the terrain below disintegrates and these landscapes no longer conform to the borders established in the last century. Switzerland, Italy, Austria, and France have rendered boundaries fluid through a series of bilateral agreements. In the coming decades when their geographies re-stabilize, new frontiers will be drawn to honour their various treaties. This willingness to re-imagine conventions of autonomy is one scant silver lining of glacial extinction. These vistas are lovely but far from pristine; they simultaneously contain the aftermath of our Industrial Age and an avant-garde view of statecraft for an era increasingly defined by climate change. “Frontière”, “Frontiera”, and “Grenze” are, respectively, French, Italian and German words for “border”.
Conarroe’s sweeping vistas are imbued with his command of light and colour, and emphasize his fascination with a landscape affected by human existence. His photographs are also evidence of his remarkable stamina for journeying. Previous projects saw him zig-zag across and circumnavigate North America. For this project, he spent several years locating remote vantage points in order to fully capture the scope of this region between countries.
Image Credit: Glacier Du Tacul, France, 2013
© Scott Conarroe, Courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery
