“I expect that I may be making a lot more work using hybrid forms of photographic image-making in the near future.” –Susan Dobson

This past Friday the York Quay Centre in Toronto hosted an opening for their upcoming Winter Exhibitions. One of which, Constructed View, featured work by the University of Guelph’s very own Susan Dobson, professor of fine art. Focusing in photography, Dobson’s work has been in solo and group shows worldwide, not to mention her contributions in the form of lectures and artists talks in both gallery and university institutions across Canada. Dobson kindly agreed to offer some insight on her current group exhibition, Constructed View.

Marianne Pointner: What inspired your decision to work digitally with photography? Was this decision based on the concepts behind your work? 

Susan Dobson: Originally I learned digital photography so that I could teach it to my students. Once I had acquired the appropriate skills, I began to see digital imaging as an important new tool that made new forms of image construction possible. I don’t use digital photography exclusively. In “Dislocation,” for instance, some images are constructed digitally, while others are unmanipulated. It doesn’t matter which one is which.

MP: Also would you ever consider shifting to other mediums? You have worked in film before, are there any other areas you are curious to explore?

SD: I recently opened an exhibition at Cambridge Galleries titled Transmission, which premiers my first video work. The exhibition runs until Feb. 26. I also recently trained in animation, so I expect that I may be making a lot more work using hybrid forms of photographic image-making in the near future.

MP: You have extensive experience with working under the parameters of the solo exhibition, how do you find this differs from being part of a group exhibition? Especially in this case where there was a single piece submitted by each artist?

SD: When working towards a solo exhibition I have a lot of control, and I am able to plan for each piece in the exhibition to be in conversation with my other works. In the case of a group exhibition, works by a range of artists inform one another, so there are more variables to consider and there are more unknowns. I personally enjoy this experience, as I often learn a great deal from the curator. The curator plays a very important role in determining the best mix of artists to include, and in communicating his vision for the exhibition to each artist.

MP:  In curator Patrick Macaulay’s description of the exhibition, he describes the theme to be around the various subjectivities of memory. “Flight Path” lends itself very well to this topic. Did your series “Dislocation”, from which “Flight Path” was drawn, share many of the same themes as the Constructed View exhibition? As well, how was it that you chose this image specifically, among the others from your “Dislocation” series?

SD: After speaking with Patrick Macaulay about the exhibition theme, I mentioned “Flight Path” and one other image from the “Dislocation” series as embodying the theme most effectively, as the images are constructed from multiple negatives and the narrative in both pieces is very open-ended. Patrick Macaulay had seen the image “Flight Path” before, and immediately agreed that it would lend itself well to the exhibition.

MP:  Having your piece out of its usual context among the other photographs in “Dislocation”, do you feel the impression/impact of the piece shifts when placed in a different series (and if so in what ways)? In what ways would you say your “Dislocation” series differs from Constructed View?

SD: When I was making the series “Dislocation”, I was most interested in the conflation of past, present, and future tenses. The idea of a shifting, subjective viewpoint is also important to the work, although it was secondary to my interest in how tenses can shift in constructed photographs. I really enjoy seeing this photograph outside of its original context, as it opens the work up to other interpretations and readings, some of which I may have never considered before. I was particularly pleased to have the photograph shown alongside sculpture and drawing, as cross-disciplinary readings and material-based conversations are interesting to me. In a strictly photographic setting, the theme (and specifically my work) may have been interpreted too strictly as “digital construction.” Digital imaging is simply a tool – a means to an end – and the inclusion of non-photographic works in the exhibition made that clear.

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