PLATFORM centre and Art City are pleased to announce Outside at Young and Broadway, a group exhibition celebrating 25 years of Art City’s seminal film photography program.
EXHIBITION | 19 April - 1 June, 2024
OPENING RECEPTION | 19 April, 7PM until 9PM
WORKSHOP | 20 April, 12PM until 3PM, Sun Traces: long-exposure pinhole photography with Natalie Baird
Every Monday, the film photography program provides the supplies and equipment for participants to shoot, develop, and print their own photographs in one of the last community darkrooms in Winnipeg. Natalie Baird has led the program since 2016, assisted by volunteers and guest artists.
Since 1998, Art City’s film photography program has created a chronicle of the constantly shifting West Broadway neighbourhood. During photo walks and outdoor portraits, children as young as 6 years have used the medium of film to capture light and make their memories tangible by retreating to the subterranean darkroom to make black and white prints.
Images created in the film photography program don’t depict subjects so much as they depict participants; the program’s highly collaborative nature places everyone involved on each side of the lens. A child in one image, for example, is sure to have controlled the camera that made other images in the exhibition. Photographs of West Broadway–made mostly in and around the immediate vicinity of Art City's building at Broadway and Young Street–show us the paths that participants have shaped in their neighbourhood, and reveal the location and artifacts they deem significant as they dwind through it.
With this collection, Art City marks 25 years of making film photography possible through the creation of a community that brings participants, volunteers, and staff members together to keep the medium thriving outside at Young and Broadway.
“In Art City’s darkroom, we’re all artists. Under the guidance of the photography instructor, there’s an incredible sense of creative possibility. You transform when learning the skills to develop film, make prints or construct photograms. The work we’re capable of has breathing room afforded by play, experimentation and supported growth. Kids have this same sense of alchemy and pride in their artmaking as a professional trying out advanced techniques. Art City’s darkroom is also a place that we can return to over time to continue our work in the medium. That sense of return is part of the beauty of a community darkroom and an exhibition like this. The art that comes out of one storied place - the quality of work made by the exhibiting artists - is worth our support and celebration. It’s also worthy of our return: to the exhibition, the individual photographs, the artists and the darkroom itself.” - Hagere Selam 'shimby' Zegeye-Gebrehiwot, artist, Art City film photography program participant (past/present/future)
BIOGRAPHY
Founded by Winnipeg artist Wanda Koop, Art City is a not-for-profit community art studio based in West Broadway at the intersection of Broadway and Young Street. Art City’s primary goal is to provide space and tools for anyone who wishes to express themselves creatively, with a focus on children and youth. Artists of all ages and abilities share space and make art about themselves, each other and their community using a wide range of mediums. Art City programming is offered free of charge at its studio, and at dozens of partnering outreach sites located throughout Winnipeg and beyond.