[Winter 2026]

Collecting
by Jacques Doyon

Portraits of British Columbian collectors of contemporary and Indigenous art, a collection of archival images that pays tribute to gestures and rituals in the darkroom, and a collection of a century’s worth of vernacular photographs of women reading – all offer fascinating stories that emerge from images accumulated by artists who are themselves, in a way, collectors, archivists, and documentarians.

CHRISTOS DIKEAKOS
The Collectors

This series presents a sort of collection of collectors, assembled by an artist who has been working in the Vancouver art scene in various capacities for decades. Dikeakos reveals the richness and diversity of people who are engaged in and fervent about amassing works for the pleasure of living with them, devoted to bringing them to the public eye, and determined to preserve them in the collective memory. The portraits, each one different and sumptuous, immerse us in worlds manifestly shaped by passion.
With an essay by Karen Henry

MICHEL CAMPEAU
Gestes et rituels de la chambre noire

A studious scrutinizer and inveterate gleaner of images from the past, Campeau offers a series of photographs that combine to form a typology of the gestures and rituals inherent to darkroom work. This imposing publication, by a photographer who has chosen to bring already existing images back to life, presents an archaeological gaze at an almost-obsolescent technology; the images are from various eras and contexts and include a few frankly humorous scenes. The book is enhanced by personal comments in which Campeau lays out his life story and evokes moments that shaped his becoming an artist.
With an essay by Mona Hakim

SARA KNELMAN
Lady Readers

This is an unusual collection by an author, teacher and editor who has, over the years, gathered hundreds of vernacular photographs, from a variety of sources, of women reading. These images, which stretch across a century, bear witness to the evolution of photographic techniques and of the position of women in society; they also contrast lightness and leisure against studious and professional stances. Together, they form a manifesto that highlights the importance of reading forwomen’s social affirmation and that encourages us to attentively read the images, presented without any annotations other than the sparse notes on the backs of the photographs.
With an essay by Cheryl Simon

 

[ Complete issue, in print and digital version, available here: Ciel variable 131 – Collecting ]
[ Complete article in digital version available here: Thematic presentation: Collecting]

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