Danaka Wheeler, Centretown News
Amalie Atkins’ photography exhibit, Wundermärchen, is on display at the Central Art Garage until Feb. 19.Amalie Atkins’ Wundermärchen exhibit opened Jan. 8 in Centretown’s Central Art Garage after the artist agreed to bring her photographic display all the way from Saskatoon, where it first appeared at the University of Saskatchewan.
The photographs shown are stills Atkins took while working on her ongoing body of films titled We Live on The Edge of Disaster and Imagine We are in a Musical, which she said follow issues of “hardship, trauma, loss, survival and resistance.”
As for the title Wundermärchen, Atkins said it translates as “wonder tale,” and was inspired by her German heritage.
Every now and then I come across a term that resonates with me and wundermärchen captured the open ended feeling that I explore in the work,” said Atkins.
Through the use of a large format field camera, the exhibit conveys a feeling of timelessness because the images could be set in any place in almost any period of time. Some pieces such as The Summoning, depict female actresses standing in solidarity together in fields, wearing similar clothes and roller skates, and looking out into the distance with an expression of confidence and defiance.
“I like the separation between now and whenever that time period is,” said Atkins. “There’s a lot of freedom in working in a time period that’s not really specific, that’s somewhere in the past, but we don’t know exactly where in the past that is,” she added.
Having created her exhibit film series with an all-female cast, Atkins explained that the story is all about women. “Since this project is dealing with shifting matriarchies and the conflicts between female characters, it makes sense for all the characters to be female,” explained Atkins. She added that she is also interested in telling empowering stories about women due to the “low representation of women in film and lack of female directors in the world.”
Leah Taylor, the curator for Atkins’ exhibit, says she was first drawn to the artist’s work years ago by the ‘magical escapism’ her work provided. Taylor has worked with Atkins for years, and explained that the artist has always been generous with her time, with herself and her ideas, but still leaves a lot to the imagination letting her audience pick a storyline when witnessing her work.
Taylor said that for this exhibit, there was a shift in the artist’s work, as she moved away from whimsy and fairytale storylines, and opted instead for “folk tales, which carry strength and cultural underpinning” not seen in her earlier work.
Wolf Watering the Circle of Grass After a Birthday Party is the only photograph in the exhibit that includes a male character featuring Atkins’ husband, which Taylor said reveals a sense of humour the artist didn’t let go of. Taken a day after Atkins’ birthday party, the photograph depicts a state of chaos in which random objects are strewn around in the background.
“It’s indicative of some of her other work where things fall apart at some point and flaws in the characters are revealed,” said Taylor. “Because if there is anything that Amalie portrays in her work, it’s dark subject matters through a really optimistic lens.”
Danny Hussey, the co-owner and director at the Central Art Garage gallery on LeBreton Street, said that Atkins’ quirky sense of humor is what draws people in when they come to see the exhibit.
“People look at them and they find them very unusual and amusing,” he said, adding that the way Atkins sets up her scenarios and photographs them also shows her adept technical skills.
After wrapping up her Ottawa exhibit on Feb. 19, Atkins’ first 16 millimeter film produced in 2008 and, titled Three Minutes Miracle, will make its way to New York at Moving Image gallery, where it will appear from March 3-6 in a felt tent installation, along with seven photographs from the film.