The visual points of departure for the photographs and paintings in Canadian Pastoral are sites rather than people: childhood homes, typically Canadian scenes and urban boundaries. However, the focus was on how these sites became surrogates for individuals and their ideals. The artists explored their environments with artistic sophistication and subtle skepticism to reveal a substratum of meaning while encouraging us to look anew at our surroundings and to reflect on our subjective responses to them.
Toni Hafkenscheid is a Toronto based photographer originally from Amsterdam, the Netherlands. In 1989, he graduated from the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and shortly thereafter moved to Toronto. He has exhibited in solo and group shows throughout Canada, the U.S., Japan and Europe.
Teshah Kosowan is a graduate of Fine Arts from the the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (2004). She started making bags in 2007, in pursuit of a creative outlet. And continues to create bags, clothes, quilts, and other textiles to this day.
To see her current work, visit her Instagram.
Linh Ly is a Calgary based photographer. She studied at University of Calgary, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1998. She has received numerous grants from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts as well as the Canada Council. Her artworks have been exhibited in artist-run-centres, public galleries and museums. Linh exhibited at The Alberta Biennale in 2007 and Alberta Emergent Photographers in 2008.
To see her current work, visit her website.