April 2 to May 7, 2016

“There are, so it is said, seventeen kinds of figs on the island. One ought-the man told himself as he walked in the sun – to know their names. Indeed, not only ought one to have seen the grasses and the animals that give the island its face, its sound, and its scent; not only ought one to have seen the strata of the mountains and the different kinds of soil, which vary from a dusty yellow to a violet brown, from the cinnabar; above all, one ought to know their names” – Walter Benjamin, “In the Sun”

The garden is three times the size of the home, it was designed by the Architect. The home, formally two garages that were retrofitted in 1957 and modernized to include large panes of glass and a small greenhouse. Recently the property was slated for demolition, like so many properties that deserve to be a heritage site. I visited this place one hazy and bright June afternoon. I spent three hours observing, taking notes, and photographing. I was told I was not allowed in the house. I peered in the window, my camera reflected in the glass, reflecting the garden, the pottery on the table yet again reflected back into the camera. Three fields of colourful vision collapsing, collapsing time and inducing an intoxicating effect. I imagined lives lived here. I left when they came home. Later I looked back at my notes, each element of the garden written down in a pencil scrawl.

Dogwood Tree                                                     Blue                                                             Rhododendrons

                                                                                     Western Red Cedar Hedge

      Douglas Fir                                                                                                                                     Pine

                                                             Blue

Persimmon                                                                                                                             Arbutus                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

                                                                                         Azaleas

                        Laurels                                                  Blue                                              Water Lilies

Water Reeds                                                                                                     Zebra Grass       

                              Western Sword Ferns                                                                               Blue

Dear Ferns                                              Blue                                        Maidenhead Ferns           

Many Grasses                                    Blue Fountain Bamboo                                                     Apple

 -Lorna Bauer

 
Bauer makes photographs, film, video and sculpture. She uses her work to question – in a reflexive way – how images are constructed, represented and mediated. Projects are characterized as site related, leading to a final product that is a visual response to a specific place and context. Her works begins out of an interest in architecture, urban plan, urban development, and personal histories of a particular place. She is interested in how these spaces influence our interactions with each other and the correlation between the natural and built environment. Her practice pushes the boundaries of what constitutes a photograph and the nature of its representation, often employing analog photographic techniques.

Lorna Bauer (b. Toronto, Ontario) lives and works in Montreal. Bauer has recently presented her work at Model Projects (Vancouver), Modern Fuel (Kingston), Dazibao (Montreal), YYZ Artist Outlet (Toronto), Musée d’art Contemporain de Montréal (Montreal), Art Metropole (Toronto), Convenience gallery (Toronto) amoung other places. Bauer has participated in numerous national and international residencies, including stays in Paris, New York, The Banff Centre and most recently she attended a residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts (Florida) working with the artist Josiah McElheny. Bauer currently has an exhibition titled Soleil on view at the Darling Foundry in Montreal. She received her BFA from Concordia University, and her MVS from the University of Toronto.

Lorna Bauer wishes to thank the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the Canada Council for the Arts for its financial support.