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Portraits | Artists
Artists are passionate about their work, and these are portraits of a very creative group!
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The Sweetest Block in Montreal: A Short History of the Cadbury Chocolate Factory
In 2006 we had just been granted permanent residency in Quebec and were looking for an artist’s studio space. It seemed most likely that we’d have success along the northern edge of the Plateau, in one of the semi-abandoned industrial buildings lining the Canadian Pacific railroad tracks. We searched and found several that matched what…
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The Memory of Presence: Portraiture
A strong portrait can resonate, suggesting something universally recognizable in a specific individual. In that way, what begins as a personal act – photographing someone you know – can extend outward, becoming something shared, something lasting, and something quietly meaningful.
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Spring in Parc Lafontaine
Having been born an American, I grew up thinking of city parks as somewhat sinister places. Manhattan and Boston, the two cities I knew well, have beautiful parks but they generally aren’t places where you ignore danger, and that was especially true in the period when I was in those cities. So coming to Montreal…
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The Long, Uneven Life of Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes
Bellas Artes survives not because it is merely old or photogenic, but because it still performs the civic role that architecture of its scale always hopes to achieve. Audiences enter for a symphony or dance program; museum visitors come for murals, architecture, or exhibitions; students and tourists cross paths in the same stair halls and…
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Quietly Quebec: French Canadians in Vermont
Quebec’s links to Vermont are often overlooked, but when I was born in the 1950s there were over 43,000 Quebecers who had immigrated over the border and yet were speaking French at home. That was a significant percentage of the state’s 377,000 residents, and yet their contributions are often overlooked.
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The Ghosts of Chapultepec
Each time we’ve visited Mexico City we’ve moved between different neighborhoods. This trip we settled down in a decidedly affluent section, called Polanco, which borders on Chapultepec Park. The park is a huge, mostly forested space, which occupies an important position in the city. Physically it’s roughly in the center of the metropolis, but historically…
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The Iztapalapa Passion Play: Walking Into 200 Years of History
Iztapalapa is one of the poorest and most densely populated areas of the Mexico City, with high levels of marginalization and crime but also intense community organization. I felt that the borough was off limits to me except for one exception: during Holy Week. I guessed that then I would probably be safe visiting because…
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Skylines and Saints: Mexico City
A colorful photographic essay on of some of Mexico City’s best public spaces and buildings.
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Returning to an Old Friend: Al-Andalus
We first ate at al-Andalus in 2013, on our first visit to Mexico City. A Mexican friend who had moved to Montreal told us it was her favorite restaurant in the city. We took that as a high recommendation and went. We have gone back almost every time since. But with the pandemic there was…
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Being Somewhere Different
Sometimes it’s good to be in a place that’s the opposite of where you call home. In some ways Mexico City plays that role for me. In spite of all its problems it still has a lot going for it…
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Beaming Color
As we took off from the Montreal airport the landscape was a frozen monochrome white. Beautiful, in a graphic way, once you got off the ground but still hard ice. This photo essay beams back some color to warm things up.
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