Article and photograph links (more images): http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Disappearing+hidden+forbidden+Asia+opens+photography+gallery/5174598/story.html
Disappearing, hidden, forbidden Asia opens new photography gallery
Larry Louie provides venue for work that may be a bit more obscure, challenging or, in this case, edgy
A worker in Larry Louie’s Smoke Break takes a rest from packing onions in the market. (digital archival print)
Photograph by: Larry Louie, edmontonjurnal.com
EDMONTON - Edmonton optometrist and international award-winning humanitarian documentary photographer, Larry Louie, opens the new Louie Photography Gallery with an exceptional exhibition entitled “Fading Lives,” showcasing his latest work from Bangladesh, along with exotic images from the Far East by Jonathan Luckhurst and Gerry Yaum.
Louie’s honours include the International Photography Awards (IPA) Lucie Awards, National Geographic, Travel Photographer of the Year Award (London, England) and a Humanitarian Documentary Grant with the World Photography Gala Award (Spain); astounding for someone who runs a full-time professional practice.
“I feel an urgency to document people in areas of the world threatened by urbanization and globalization — places where traditional ways of life, ancient knowledge and customs, languages and identities are disappearing at an alarming rate,” Louie says, encircled by images from travels to Tibet, Tanzania, Indonesia and Mali. “People often talk about endangered species … some are finally beginning to notice the threat to the diversity of cultures.”
Louie’s images, shot in remote and often obscure parts of the world, are riveting with a strong narrative quality. It is hard to break focus and move to the next image.
Luckhurst’s photos have also received international attention through exhibitions, magazine publications and his first book, recently published in Italy. Next up is an exhibit at the prominent Buschlen Mowatt Gallery in Vancouver, renowned for showcasing fine talent.
Luckhurst’s “Silhouettes” documents the mass Hindu pilgrimage in North India with a series of haunting and ethereal images. His approach is “to be as passive as possible, often to the point where the subject is unaware of my presence.”
Yaum’s work hangs in several collections throughout North America, with one exhibition image, Young Monk Chiang Khong, recently added to the Alberta Foundation of the Arts permanent collection. Since 1996, Yaum has ventured to places most would never dare: Klong Toey, Bangkok’s largest slum; Cambodia’s Poi Pet Brothel; and to photograph a ladyboy sex worker in Pattaya, Thailand.
“The camera is my key to other worlds. It opens up doors to people and places I might never otherwise have seen,” says Yaum.
The Journal chatted with Louie about the exhibition and the new gallery.
J.R.: Why did you decide to open a photography gallery?
L.L.: In Edmonton there are a lot of clubs, and people who are great photographers, but no venues to show their photography. I am not talking about great, beautiful landscapes you can see in commercial galleries, but about photography that may be a little bit more obscure or challenging or, in this case, edgy.
J. R: Your images offer a photojournalistic element of authenticity, yet they emit such artistry.
L.L.: Thank you, I like photographs that tell a story. When you look at the work and are either very emotionally attached or affected by the picture, that’s because it is real; it is not contrived or put together. To me that’s what documentary photography is. But at the same time, it is not just a snapshot of the scene. I want to make sure that the image is beautifully balanced as a piece of art. That’s what I try to bring out with my pictures and I think the same is true for Jonathan and Gerry.
J.R.: What made you decide on this mix of photographers for “Fading Lives?”
L.L.: We are all documentary photographers with very different styles but with the same theme … showing some humanitarian side of Southeast Asia.
J.R.: Tell me about your Bangladesh series “A Working Day in Dhaka.”
L.L.: There 15 million people, 80 per cent are below the poverty line and many live in slums or are homeless. I wanted to do a snapshot of the people … their working and living conditions; issues, like safety. I went to a shipyard where they are working with big hammers, hitting metal. Sparks were flying, but they were not wearing eyewear.
All the funds generated from the sale of my books and photographs are donated to Seva Canada, a non-governmental organization which promotes eye-care health in third-world countries.
J.R.: There is a wonderful contrast with Jonathan Luckhurst’s work.
L.L.: Jonathan, to me, is almost an artist versus a photographer. He uses photography as a medium, but he is truly an artist. He documented religious processions in India, but he presents them in a way that they could be anywhere. There are no defining features that tell you where a person is from; it is very grainy, blurred and muted. There is a very soft, mysterious feel to his images which are very beautiful.
J.R.: What drew you to Gerald Yaum’s work?
L.L.: Gerry has been travelling and documenting sex-trade workers. The ladyboys are striking … the quality of the printing; stark black and white. These portraits are very powerful. His subject matter is controversial, very touchy for people to see, but I think it is also something we know about. It is gutsy … photographing sex is very dangerous
Visual Arts Preview
Fading Lives: Award- winning images by Larry Louie, Jonathan Luckhurst, Gerald Yaum
Where: Louie Photography Gallery, 2nd floor, 10634 124th St.
When: Until Aug. 31
