Susan Coolen: Grand Shadows (River Grand Chronicles #7)
May 15 - July 5, 2009
Public Reception: Friday May 22, 2009, 7 - 9 p.m.
View the Grand Shadows e-invitation >
View the River Grand Chronicles 6, 7 & 8 Catalogue>
Organized by KW|AG  

Susan Coolen, Parlance No. 4, 2008, archival gicleé prints, total diptych size 60" x 30".

Susan Coolen's photographic practice is informed by a childhood ritual of scavenging the shoreline of a small coastal village for washed-up treasures. Much of her work has its start in the act of collecting (and sometimes mummifying) specimens, found objects, the flotsam and other detritus of daily life. As an initial means of responding to these items, Coolen turns to her interests in natural history, the museum and astronomy, and their links to the history of photography.

In Grand Shadows, Susan Coolen continues to explore the taxonomic impulse.  This multi-media installation combines photographic light works, large image projections and small video works, all incorporating imagery drawn from her ongoing expeditions to the Grand River environs during the four seasons. Of this new work, Coolen states:  "I percolated on the feel of the visual tangle of light and shadow, lines and forms of the river's edge environment, and to the sounds of the often invisible presence of its flowing waters".

KW|AG has commissioned Susan Coolen to create the sixth installment in our Parochial Views series. This work can be seen in the Spring 2009 issues of Border Crossings and Canadian Art.  

About Susan Coolen
Susan Coolen was born in 1955, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and graduated with a Bachelor of Design in Communication Design from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 1977. She moved to Montreal in 1991 to pursue a BFA in photography at Concordia University, followed by an MFA in Photography at Columbia College, Chicago. Her work has been included in solo and group exhibits in Canada and abroad. These include the two-person exhibit 'Beyond Science' at Metrònom in Barcelona, Spain, 2004-05, 'Shifting Sites' with the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography & National Gallery of Canada's "On Tour" program 2000/2003, and the international event «Encontros con la image» in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, 2000. Coolen's work has been published in Spain's 'Photo Vision No. 30': 'Big Crunch'', 2001, 'Terre Océane'; Dazibao's 'Publications' book series, Montréal, 2003, 'Scrivener Creative Review', Montréal, 2003, 'Sphere' by Presentation House Gallery, Vancouver, 2004, 'Québec Science Magazine', Quebec City, 2005 and in the following books in 2006: 'Memento', Columbia College Chicago, 'Carte Blanche', Magenta Foundation for the Arts, Toronto and Alphabet City's 'Trash', Toronto. Coolen most recent exhibit was 'The Language of Nature' at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa (February 22 - May 4, 2008). To learn more about Susan Coolen, visit www.susancoolen.com.