Exhibition Dates: May 10 – June 7, 2014
Artist Talk: Friday, May 9th, 7pm
Opening Reception: Friday, May 9, 5-9pm
The gallery is pleased to present, “Hamilton,” our second solo-exhibition by Canadian Photographer Joseph Hartman.
In 2007, photographer Hartman (b. Barrie, Ontario, 1978) relocated from the small rural community of Lafontaine, Ontario, where he lived most of his life, to Hamilton, Ontario. Initially feeling disoriented and disconnected from the city, he began to photograph Hamilton as a way to understand the place he now calls home.
“Hamilton” is Hartman's largest body of work to date; it spans seven years and includes more than 40 photographs captured with a 4 x 5 view camera on colour film. Hamilton, a city best known for its steel industry, is now in a state of transition as heavy industry slowly leaves. Hartman overlooks the factories and smoke-laden skyline that have represented the city for decades and instead documents a cross-section of Hamilton's working-class neighbourhoods and the surrounding landscape. He focuses on the city's east end, drawn in by the "gritty personality" of the people and buildings of the area.
