Robert Graham, Three Montréal Photographers + — Zoë Tousignant, Robert Graham’s History of Photography in Montreal
Ciel variable 118 - EXHIBITING PHOTOGRAPHY | Portfolios
Authors: Zoë Tousignant | Artists: Donigan Cumming, Michel Campeau, Tom Gibson
A reflection on Robert Graham’s activities as a critic and collector, this exhibition of three Montreal photographers (and more) opens broad perspectives. It accounts for an approach that combines the acquisition of artworks and spending time with their creators (in this case, Tom Gibson, Donigan Cumming, and Michel Campeau) with the development of a critical vision of photography. Zoë Tousignant defends the principle that an image is appreciated as much for what it doesn’t show as what it does show. She notes that Graham, whose collection comprises works that are “visual correlatives” of his thought, is interested in the parergon, Jacques Derrida’s concept that has it that “what resides outside of a work of art is in fact fundamental.” “Telling the history of photography in Montreal cannot involve the exclusion of all that is foreign,” writes Tousignant, who sees the inclusion in the exhibition of images by Muybridge, Tichý, and Parr as reflecting “the total imbrication of the local scene with the international.”
