Review: of Emergence: Contemporary Photography in Canada

Abstract

It is for this reason that Emergence: Conte?nporary Photography in Canada is an important contribution to an understanding of Canadian photography. Emergence is smartly structured around a series of essays in which each author writes about three contemporary photo-based artists in relation to the idea of "emergence." In a brief section that follows each essay, the three artists discussed each contribute a short statement about another artist. In total, four essays survey the work of twelve artists, and these twelve artists, in turn, introduce the work of another rwelve artists. In these four essays, the authors present an interpretation of the idea of "emergence," developing a succinct analysis of a set of photographic practices that share a number of common ideas, and which, one assumes, can be described as "emergent." A final, additional essay by Katy McCormick deviates from this model, looking at the work of six former students of photography from Ryerson University, who are represented by a series of small portfolios that appear at the end of the book. In her essay, McCormick focuses on the roles various institutions have had in shaping these artists' work and careers. However, this piece makes it appear that the volume is exclusively about Ryerson alumni. (Indeed, Ryerson graduates are represented to a disproportionate degree in a book that purports to be about contemporary photography in Canada.