This selection of photographs from Saskatchewan comes from my book Saskatchewan: Uncommon Views published in 2005 by The University of Alberta Press (http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?lid=41&bookid=641 ). Collectively, the photographs tell something of the story of this place that was my home for much of my adult life. Themes from this story of Saskatchewan are: Promise, Survival, Sentimentality, New Jerusalem, Quirky, and Quietus.
In describing these photographs, I borrow words of a few reviewers of the book.
“The photographs are an extended set of variations on a theme of how to photograph prairie, while in their content, they succeed admirably in presenting a contemporary, ironic, humorous, semiotic tour of a people’s conflicted relationship with an always contrary, yet often starkly beautiful land.”
Richard Holden, Border Crossings
“Conway’s expanses are devoid of people....There is indeed a presence of habitation, though, in most of the photographs. Yet there is a profound quietness in all of them".
Larissa Leclair, Photo-eye Magazine
“The images are not just finely composed photographs or conventionally beautiful landscapes. In almost every image, the beauty derives from an intriguing--sometimes almost imperceptible--human impact on the physical world".
Michael Payne, Canadian Book Review Annual 2007
“A book that is soul-searching, ironic, invigorating, depressing, demystifying, and yet, in the end, that celebrates the enduring power of the place and the transformative potential of dreams".
Christopher Wiebe, VUE Weekly
Selections of photographs from my book have been exhibited at galleries in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; Calgary, Alberta; and in Toronto and Ottawa, Ontario. Individual photographs have been included in various group exhibitions, including: The International Photography Awards, Los Angeles, CA; The Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA; Golden Light Awards, Rockport, MN; The Art of Photography Show, San Diego, CA; The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO. Several prints of these photographs are in the collection of the Saskatchewan Arts Board. My work is represented by Darrell Bell Gallery in Saskatoon.
www.darrellbellgallery.com/