Paul Petro Contemporary Art is pleased to present Marlene Creates: selected works from 30 years, 1982–2012, the artist’s first solo exhibition at the gallery. The exhibition will feature work from each decade of the Newfoundland-based artist’s production. Over the course of her career, Creates has been concerned with the relationship between people and the land, often photographing traces of human presence in rugged, natural environments. Focusing primarily on Newfoundland and Labrador, her work explores how individuals and communities relate to history through a land steeped in strong cultural and political contexts.

Through Creates’ lens, geographies marked by human intervention expose multiple legacies of interaction with place, and document the artist’s own movement through the natural world she inhabits. Questioning the assumption that the “natural” is unmediated, the work depicts the ways in which language, signification, and individual memory construct our perceptions of the land and contest local and national heritage.

Creates has shown widely in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Europe, and her work can be found in public collections that include the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography and the National Gallery of Canada.

Presented with the support of the Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. 

Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival is pleased to award

Marlene Creates with the BMW Exhibition Prize

The BMW prize of $5,000 acknowledges an outstanding Open or Featured exhibition in CONTACT 2013. The jury, curator and historian Dr. Matthew Brower, and artist Max Dean based their selection of the prize winner on the caliber and concept of the work, the curatorial vision, and the overall impact of the exhibition.  Marlene Creates was presented with the award at the BMW Exhibition Prize Gala event on Thursday May 30 at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art.

Marlene Creates: selected works from 30 years, 1982–2012, is the artist’s first solo exhibition at Paul Petro Contemporary Art. On view until June 1, the exhibition features work from each decade of the Newfoundland-based artist’s production. Over the course of her career, Creates has been concerned with the relationship between people and the land, often photographing traces of human presence in rugged, natural environments. Focusing primarily on Newfoundland and Labrador, her work explores how individuals and communities relate to history through a land steeped in strong cultural and political contexts. Creates has shown widely in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Europe, and her work can be found in public collections that include the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography and the National Gallery of Canada.

"It has been a pleasure and an honour to work with Marlene on this exhibition. From my first visit last summer to her home in the boreal forest in Portugal Cove, Newfoundland, to the realization of this concise survey exhibition, it has been a tremendously inspiring curatorial journey. We have included works that mark each decade of her practice to date in an effort to provide a strong introduction to her work and the range of her concerns. The subtle threads of her social and cultural activism are pitch perfect to today's environmental concerns and our relationship in Canada to the land and the histories it keeps" says Paul Petro, Director, PPCA.

“Marlene Creates powerfully explores the themes of place, landscape and temporality in images that foreground questions of perception.  Poetic and meditative, her work explores the traces of human presence in the environment and invites viewers to consider both our lasting effects on the land as well as the ephemerality of our presence”, says Dr. Matthew Brower, 2013 juror.

With a strong focus on aesthetics and design, BMW has been a long time supporter of Photography. “From our global partnership with the Lumas Gallery to our Canadian Art Auction program, BMW is a proud supporter of the arts”, says Kevin Marcotte, Director of Marketing for BMW Group Canada. “Through the BMW Exhibition Prize, we are able to recognize and celebrate a great contribution to the Canadian photography community.  We congratulate Marlene on her exhibition which offers a unique glimpse at the Canadian landscape and national identity.”

• Marlene Creates lives and works in Portugal Cove, Newfoundland & Labrador. For almost 40 years her work has been an exploration of the relationship between human experience and the land, and the impact they have on each other. Since 2002 her principal artistic venture has been to closely observe and work with the 6 acres of boreal forest where she lives. Since the mid-1970s, her work has been presented in over 350 solo and Group exhibitions and screenings across Canada (including several nationally touring solo exhibitions) and in Austria, China, Denmark, England, France, India, Ireland, Korea, Scotland, and USA. She was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 2001.