PLATFORM Gallery and Photomathon of Montreal present a fresh look at the genre of portrait photography in To Hold one’s Breath. British artists, Danny Treacy and Emma Critchley take very different approaches to creating intriguing and disturbing portraits that disrupt a sense of time and space.
Beautiful yet uncomfortable portraits are constructed by Emma Critchley, who photographs her subjects in this body of work underwater. It is not apparent at first glance why these head and shoulder portraits have a strange quality, but upon inspection one notices the white dress shirts each subject wears appears to be floating around the body, faces are lifted and breath is held. Uncertainty and apprehension surrounds Critchley’s subjects, a calm quietness hovers and time is suspended. Although her models, of various ages and genders, have become vulnerable in this unnatural environment, self preservation is expressed through unwavering expression and defiant eye contact. In Danny Treacy’s larger-than-life prints the viewer is confronted with a subject dressed head-to-toe in costumes which hide any traces of skin or distinguishable characteristics. The subject is in fact Treacy himself, who has found the clothes and accessories in places where events of intense pain or pleasure have taken place, such as in one case, the scene of a car crash. The photographs become a record of specific yet unknown places and stories, as well as Treacy’s own fetishistic ritual which borders on
performance.
Emma Critchley’s series ‘Portraits’ have been well recognized over the last year, winning the Association of Photographer’s 2004 Student Award and being short-listed for the National Portrait Gallery’s Schweppes Portrait Prize. Her work has been published in Hotshoe Magazine, AN magazine, BJP and also Image Magazine. She has exhibited in The National Portrait Gallery, The Stroud House Gallery, L’Espace F, Canada and Fotofreo 2006; the Western Australian Photography Biennale.
Danny Treacy holds an MA in Fine Art Photography from the Royal College of Art in London. He has won various awards including the inaugural Jerwood/ Portfolio Photography Award and the Photographer’s Gallery Award. His work has been featured in numerous International exhibitions inFinland, Spain, Edinburgh, California, London, France, and most recently at L’Espace F in Montreal Canada. His work has been written about in Portfolio Catalogue, Photoworks, Another Magazine, and I-D Magazine, amongst others.
This exhibition is presented in collaboration with Photomathon, www.photomathon.com. Founded by Stéphane Giroux, Myrabelle Charlebois and Dacha Rouleau-Dumont. Photomathon is an organization dedicated to the promotion of work by young, emerging and culturally diverse photographers.
Image: Danny Treacy, Them #6.
