CATHERINE BODMER | DUO

CATHERINE BODMER | DUO

Room 1

Catherine Bodmer

DUO

EXHIBITION /
SEPTEMBER 2 TO OCTOBER 9, 2010

The subjects of Catherine Bodmer's photographs are spaces with uncertain or precarious functions. The ambivalent nature of these bare places, from frozen lakes to roadways and vacant lots, derives from their potential to change over time. This idea of transformation, which is central to Bodmer's work, is developed in the splitting and alteration of her photographs which, in both their structure and their tiniest details, call for active observation.

Contrary to what these diptychs might at first glance suggest, they never take the form of complete symmetry. While various mirror effects are already present in the spaces being photographed, digital deconstruction and reconstruction of landscapes, people, buildings and objects highlights their duplication. In not matching completely, however, their similitude is broken and doubt is sown as to the plausibility of the places and situations depicted.

While some of Bodmer's images may suggest they are fictional, a momentary halt in an unfolding story, they avoid narrative. The series The Moebius Strip illustrates this parallel through the staging of characters following various paths from one photograph to the next. The resulting movement thus affords new readings without evading the eternal return to the image in question.

Aseman Sabet
trans. Timothy Barnard

 

Catherine Bodmer is a visual artist whose practice includes installation, photography and site-specific work. The idea of transformation is at the centre of her work, as well as the observation of the ordinary and banal aspects of existence. In her installations and site-specific works, she is mostly interested in activities related to cleaning the body and the space. Stressing the ambivalent values of cleanliness and purity, she questions their effects on the arrangement of our physical and mental spaces, our ideologies and utopias. For CLARK, she’ll present the photographic results of her residency in Mexico.

Catherine Bodmer wishes to thank the Conseil des arts du Canada, the Programme des studios et ateliers-résidences du Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Centre Sagamie and Photosynthèse.

The artist also thanks Richard, Julie, Emma, Benoît, Marci, James, Annie, Anne, Marc, Susana, Pistola, Rafael, Christine, Pirmin et Maria-José for their participation and precious help.