Sporobole and Rencontres de la photographie en Gaspésie, thanks to the support of Loto-Québec, invite professional Québec artists to submit a project proposal by May 19, 2023.
The artist selected will carry out a photography mission that documents one or more aspects of the contemporary Eastern Townships landscape. The results of his or her research will later be presented at Sporobole in 2024 and at Rencontres de la photographie en Gaspésie in 2025.
THE CALL FOR PROJECTS
Through photographic practice, we invite artists to take a good look at the state of the Québec landscape. The goal is to present critical perspectives, to provoke reflection or to generate utopias. How do things stand with the contemporary Québec landscape? What effect can photography have?
“The Québec landscape plays a fundamental role in our culture, within our collective imaginings, in addition to constituting, literally, empirically, the very framework – the physical, geomorphic framework – of the social, political and economic reality of contemporary Québec. Under the influence of factors that are natural (erosion, disasters, the “fury of the gods”) or human (ranging from the gardener’s humble intervention to the organized vandalism of industry), the Québec landscape is changing. Before our all-too-often powerless eyes.
“As we head into the 21st century, waiting for the dawn, it has to be noted that exploration and exploitation of the territory of Québec have arrived at this turning point – crucial, capital – where the last wild rivers of Québec are now dammed, where our river and our forests are slowly being sacrificed in the interests of profit, and where the cold no longer succeeds in discouraging settlement of the remotest parts of the landscape we inhabit. As a result, is it not a matter of urgency for Québec society to ask itself what the score is with the landscape it inhabits, in the face of everything?” – Alexis Desgagnés
Professional Québec artists are invited to propose an original photo project that will explore these issues, basing themselves on the case of the contemporary landscape.
THE PHOTOGRAPHY MISSIONS
The Photography Missions were initiated in the wake of a roundtable entitled The Québec Landscape: Political Assessment and Artistic Perspectives, which took place in Carleton-sur-Mer in August 2015. The first edition, held under the artistic direction of Alexis Desgagnés in concert with Claude Goulet, artistic director of Rencontres, led to the realization of two Photography Missions in the Gaspé Peninsula in 2016. Artists Jean-François Hamelin and Sara A. Tremblay presented their two photographic explorations as part of the 8th edition of Rencontres at the Vaste et Vague artist center.
Since 2019, thanks to the support of Loto-Québec, Rencontres has linked up with regional partners with a view to documenting the whole of the contemporary Québec landscape. Thus, artist Chloé Beaulac presented the results of her research on the Laurentian region at the Centre d’exposition de Val-David in fall 2020 and winter 2021. For her part, artist Aislinn Leggett, from September 4 to November 28, 2021, at the Centre d’exposition L’Imagier, presented the results of her photography mission undertaken in the Outaouais in 2020. Artist Chun Hua Catherine Dong, meanwhile, from September 23, 2022 to March 31, 2023 is presenting the photography mission she carried out in the fall of 2021 in Charlevoix. Artist Josée Pedneault, finally, will unveil the results of her mission to Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean from January 19 to March 29, 2024.
“The project selected will therefore constitute the sixth contribution to a long-term photo assignment that will cover the entirety of the Québec landscape, given the necessary financing” states the executive director and artistic director of Rencontres, Claude Goulet. “We also wish to establish a national photo archive collection devoted to the Québec landscape.”
CONDITIONS FOR ENTRY AND EVALUATION CRITERIA
The Photographic Mission is intended solely for professional artists residing in Québec. It must take place between the month of June 2023 and October 31, 2024, in the Eastern Townships. The results of that mission will be presented at Sporobole during the year 2024. Rencontres would also like to exhibit one or two pictures at its 2024 edition as a way of promoting the Photography Missions.
Proposals will be evaluated by a committee of peers made up of artists and players in the community of current Québec photography. Evaluation of the proposals will bear on the relevance of the reflection on the issues involving the Eastern Townships landscape, the originality of the mission project’s approach, the quality of the visual file and the candidate’s experience.
REQUIREMENTS
Artists wishing to submit a project must send their file by May 19, 2023, at 11: 59 p.m. (Québec time).
Your application must contain the following:
- a description of the project proposed as part of the Missions;
- an artist statement, maximum 300 words;
- 10 pictures of recent work clearly expressing your project (compatible jpg files, Mac RGB, 1024 x 768 pixels at 72 ppi);
- a curriculum vitae.
Please send your proposal in a compressed.zip folder or via WeTransfer to info@photogaspesie.ca.
The artist selected will be advised of the jury’s decision no later than May 30, 2023.
FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS
The artist selected will receive:
- A lump sum for meal and accommodation expenses; an amount reserved for travel expenses;
- A fee of $4,000 (terms of payment will be discussed with the artist when the agreement is signed).
Should you have any questions concerning the call for projects, please communicate with Claude Goulet : productiongoulet@gmail.com.
Image: Josée Pedneault, Mission Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean