Kassandra Reynolds
in Mont-Louis
EXHIBITION
Plante père
Kassandra Reynolds, Cowansville, Québec | kassreynolds.com
Long white stockings, leaving a peasant tan;
The same cut-off, worn denim shorts;
His trusty straw hat stained with sweat;
He couldn’t care less: his life, it was plants!
Despite the years, every muscle was still in place.
His cracked, chapped fingers carried on caressing the earth.
He shared his passion with me, and together we shaped the soil
To plant our flower garden there.
Plante père explores the heritage of a passion handed down from generation to generation: gardening. The project presents photographs of my horticulturist father, taken in our family garden, as well as poetry-imbued moments of everyday life.
Through photography I explore the intrinsic relationship between the blooming of different species and the memories we associate with them. At one and the same time a place for sharing and for people coming together, the garden becomes for me a living photo album, where each flowering awakens a wintery memory. Aware as I am that my father will one day pass away, I comfort myself with the thought that, as long as there are flowers, I’ll have my father.
Like a garden that enjoys seasons of growth and renewal, human life is marked by phases of development, learning and resurgence. Plants grow, flower, fade and allow the next generation to be born, reflecting the cycle of life. In addition to honoring my own father, this series of photographs becomes an ode to memory, heritage and the timeless beauty of the bond between humans and nature.
EXHIBITION AT RENCONTRES
Plante père
A graduate in photography of Cégep de Matane in 2018, Kassandra Reynolds specializes in documentary photography. The intergenerational, resilience and the question of identity are some of the themes she explores, and through which she hopes to promote the emergence of a new way of looking at others and ourselves.
Her creative process is based on an immersion in different territories, where she sets out to meet people and their stories. These encounters offer her an intimate look at our way of inhabiting the world. The artist has presented her work in a number of solo and group exhibits both in Québec and in Europe. The recipient of several grants, in 2021she was awarded the Prix relève Culture Montérégie for her “superb photographic quest, which is to document our bound-to-disappear humanity.” A resident of the Eastern Townships, Kassandra Reynolds is also a member of the Hors d’État photographer collective.