Christophe Jivraj: ‘1,5-1,5’

Photographs by Christophe Jivraj

Exhibition

February 26 – April 3, 2010
Opening on Friday February 19, 5pm-9pm
Artist’s Talk on Wednesday March 3rd, 5:30pm

Project Description

Photographic portraits of a group of physically handicapped though cognitively lucid adults. The on-going, participatory project has evolved over the last five years and makes conventional use of photography to underline a process of individuation and the formation of identity. This new, more audacious instalment represents subjects in the intimacy of their bedroom, either nude or suggestively dressed. Complicating the image is the participants’ vulnerability, their atypical bodies exposed to the gaze of both the photographer and the anonymous viewer. It is accompanied by a video that presents snippets of contextual interviews that include the participants’ point of view on their identity, their body, and their sexuality. The following is taken from the presentation text by Pablo Rodriguez.

“On one level, 1, 5-1, 5 airs the models’ desire to see themselves and be seen sexually by others. Yet on another level, it airs a specific relation, one which Jivraj maintains in dialogue with his models. It is here, in the relation, that Jivraj’s project may appear most problematic. It is also here that it proves most productive.”

Skol will be open on Saturday February 27 from 7pm to 3am for Montréal’s All-Nighter.

Keys

1. The Donigan Cumming video compilation titled Controlled Disturbance and his photographic essay Pretty Ribbons.

2. Diane Arbus –  all her work but particularly the Untitled series.

3. Shelby Lee Adams – His Appalachia series and Jennifer Baichwal’s documentary The True Meaning of Pictures.