CU in the City, Ottawa – The Official Picture by Dr. Carol Payne

Dr. Carol Payne, Associate Professor of Art History in the School for Studies in Art and Culture, will deliver the spring 2014 edition of CU in the City.
Professor Payne will discuss the findings of her new book, The Official Picture: The National Film Board of Canada’s Still Photography Division and the Image of Canadian Nationhood, 1941-1971.
The NFB Still Photography Division was the country’s official photographer during the mid-twentieth century producing a governmentally endorsed portrait of the nation, an ‘official picture’ of Canada. Though long overshadowed by the NFB’s cinematic productions, Division photographers shot some of this country’s most dynamic media photographs of the time and sought to foster a sense of national cohesion. Millions of Canadians (and international audiences) saw Division photographs in newspapers, magazines, and the Board’s own books, exhibitions, and filmstrips. Across that history, the Division used promotional photographs to promote Canadian identity.

Dr. Carol Payne is an Associate Professor of Art History, a research associate with the Centre for Public History, and a member of the Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre, all at Carleton University. In addition to The Official Picture: The National Film Board of Canada’s Still Photography Division and the Image of Canada, 1941-1971, she is co-editor with Andrea Kunard of The Cultural Work of Photography in Canada (MQUP, 2011) and author of numerous essays on photography, from the historic to the contemporary. She is currently principal investigator of the photo-based oral history project “Views from the North: Photo-based Learning with Inuit Elders and Youth,” a collaboration with the Ottawa-based Inuit school Nunavut Sivuniksavut, Library and Archives Canada, and Carleton University’s Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre.
CU in the City
The aim of CU in the City is to share research from Carleton University’s (CU) Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) with the Ottawa community by holding lectures in various neighbourhoods across the city. The CU in the City series will provide opportunities for FASS faculty and students to interact with one another off campus as well as strengthen ties between FASS and the general public. A friendly question and answer session follows all CU in the City talks. We hope to CU in the City!
CU in the City with Professor Carol Payne The Official Picture: The National Film Board of Canada’s Still Photography Division and the Image of Canadian Nationhood, 1941-1971 Tuesday, March 25, 2014 at the Ottawa Public Library Sunnyside Branch (1049 Bank Street). Refreshments from 6:00 pm. Lecture at 6:30 pm.