My bedroom $12 night, Sudbury Ontario

Keep this place:

These images were made in the early to mid 1980's. They were all shot using available light and 4x5 sheet film. The prints are all 16x 20 inches or less. The following text is from an artist's statement that was used as a preface to the exhibition of the same name.

For the most part the pictures are (were) taken in taverns, public houses and their attendant living spaces in a variety of locales from Ottawa westward. They are all in colour and are selected from a larger body of work that I photographed during the last two years. The pictures are intended to operate on several levels and will be misread if they are examined only for their "documentary" properties. They are an appreciation of the decisions that people made in claiming these spaces for their own use rather than a critique or an exposé. Within the images there are a variety of renderings on a common theme that were generated by the practical needs (functions) of these rooms. The rooms themselves are an architecture of necessity, but I have tried to photograph them with the same sense of place, strength and dignity that another (commissioned) photographer might bring to corporate spaces. Another important aspect of the work is the extended metaphor that uses different locations, common items of furniture, and the play of light to make an emotive comparison with myself, the viewer and the rooms I have chosen. It is true that the rooms are often small and confining, but at the same time I like to think that they are transparent.

JW 1985

The show that I circulated under this name was composed of about 35-25 prints depending on the venue. These prints were edited from hundreds of different candidate photographs.