I am very happy to show “Queuing” during the “Holding Pattern: 2021 Additions” exhibition which showcases work recently purchased by the City of Ottawa and added to the City of Ottawa Art Collection.
Photograph on display is a part of a limited edition print run consisting of 20 prints available for purchase from yours truly.
You will only see a short bio and general info about my work during the exhibition so I Am posting a more comprehensive text about this particular image below
I hope you will find time to see my print and other artwork from local artists in person at the City Hall Art Gallery. The exhibition runs from December 17th, 2021 to February 11th, 2022. Info: https://bit.ly/3pSf18X
Statement:
Covid-19 changed our society. I was interested in capturing some aspects of this rapid transformation of our lives. During the more conventional circumstances I am inquisitive about the commonplace rather than the extraordinary. However, the pandemic and our response to it made the abnormal the new commonplace. I ought to create a visual documentation of the behaviors which were unfamiliar to us before the pandemic but quickly became part of our everyday routine.
I treasure the peculiar relationship of photography with reality and its ability to transform what’s in front of the camera into a symbolic object which can allow us to pause and contemplate the real world. Unembellished images of the prosaic scenes have a potential to be more than straightforward records of the perceivable.
My aim was to document and highlight how the state of our seemingly “solid” reality can morph into something less comprehensible. Transient, fluid nature of the modern world is considered by the sociologist Zygmunt Bauman who coined the term “Liquid Modernity” and profoundly influenced my way of seeing.
“What has been cut apart cannot be glued back together. Abandon all hope of totality, future as well as past, you who enter the world of fluid modernity.”― Zygmunt Bauman; “Liquid Modernity”
“Queuing”
From the “Pandemic Vistas” chapter of the “Ottawa” series.
Beechwood Ave, Vanier, Ottawa
08.04.2020
© Blazej Marczak / www.bmarczak.com