2024 Public Art Ottawa Exhibition: JON STUART – Stillwater
Check out Jon Stuart’s photograph collection “Stillwater” now on display in the CORRIDOR 45|75, Rideau Station, O-Train Line 1.
October 28, 2024 to March 16, 2025
CORRIDOR 45|75, Rideau Station, O-Train Line 1
About
“During the pandemic, I, along with many others, became a sub-urban flâneur. My daily explorations took me to the outskirts of the city, to the near edges of the Greenbelt. Structured somewhere between the ordered parks of the city and the dark, unfathomable boreal forest, the history of this land can be read. At the western edge of Ottawa, between Corkstown Road and Moodie Drive, a debilitated wetland is being brought back to life. This is a next generation landscape – inherently human-made yet wild and generative, supporting both the local ecology and the health of the water flowing across the city. Reterritorialization in progress.
While my work seeks to reveal the striking discontinuities in this area, the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority describes the science behind the changes.”
Biography
“Jon Stuart uses photography to collect and process delicate evidence which he uses to reveal meaning and sublimity in the places where we live. His images are rich portrayals of events that played out before the photographer arrived and hint at events that might happen after he departed. Each scene contains clues to existence, presence, and place, not merely documenting physical locations but places charged with significance. Jon’s detailed photographs, whether landscape or portrait, seek to draw the viewer’s eye from object to subject, shifting their view from a “space on the ground” to a “place in the mind.”
Jon was formerly an accident investigator, and he employs these skills to inform and guide his practice. He presents his conclusions using a range of printing techniques, from the subtle gradations of silver gelatin and pigment ink to post-processed video stills. Jon’s work is held in public and private collections within Canada and the UK.
Jon Stuart gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority.”