Painting has dominated art history from Renaissance until the second half of the 20th century. In Quebec, it was so outstanding that it nearly managed to overshadow the importance that photography had. However, the photographic medium had a leading role in our culture, particulary in the Seventies, when many collectives got involved in the social life of their time. Déclic 70 intends to pay a humble tribute to the documentary-inspired images of this auspicious period.
In this exhibition, eleven outstanding Quebec photographers of the seventies are brought together. Of course, the list of selected artists is not exhaustive, but let us hope that this project can lead a museum to organize a major retrospective reuniting all the photographers and collectives who worked toward a documentary-inspired photography from the end of the fifties to the end of the seventies. For now, we have brought together images from Pierre Gaudard, Gabor Szilasi, Claire Beaugrand-Champagne, Roger Charbonneau, Michel Campeau (who were involved in the GAP – Groupe d’Action Photographique); from Jean Lauzon and Normand Rajotte (of Prisme); from Clara Gutsche and David Miller (of the Photocell collective); from Marik Boudreau (of Plessisgraphe) and from Alain Chagnon (of the GPP – Groupe des Photographes Populaires).
Through these images, you will see how photography has been involved in Quebec society, has brought a new way of looking at it, avoiding to turn away from it – a way of becoming aware of our identity, allowing us to rethink our own representation…
Curated by Nicolas Mavrikakis.
From thursday august 25th to saturday october 15th, 2011
Galerie SAS
372 Ste Catherine Ouest, suite 416
Montreal (Québec)
