CHRONOSCAPES
Pinhole Camera Project • Sarah Crawley with One Hundred Community Participants
From the longest day to the longest night — ChronoScapes is a captivating installation that uses the art of long exposure photography to capture the passage of time in a single image. The photographs are the result of a collaborative lens-based art engagement with one hundred members of the community and artist Sarah Crawley. Over one hundred cameras were distributed; most were returned but some were lost to the elements. Participants were asked to install their cameras in south-facing places across the Comox Valley and surrounding area, some reaching as far as the Gulf Islands. Water played a significant role in this project, as the cameras were exposed to the many turbulent elements of our temperate rainforest climate. Over time, rain introduced its mark on the photographs and in some cases caused the images to be completely obliterated. This collection exposes landscapes in a state of transformation, many of the images trace the full movement of the sun as it shifts positions across the sky. Through these long exposures, the installation invites you to experience immersion in time, as nature reveals itself not as a static backdrop, but as a living force in perpetual motion.
For this project, Sarah held virtual workshops with CVAG staff and summer students in preparation for the community’s participation. Sarah taught the students how to build the small cameras, as well as shared the dynamics of pinhole camera photography. During her artist residency in 2024, she held a workshop with the participants of the Pinhole Camera Project onsite at CVAG on the day the cameras were distributed. The completed ChronoScapes project premiered in CVAG’s Window + Plaza Media Gallery and GATHER⋮PLACE during Immersed • RETURN TO WATER 2025, comprised of the video of images and an installation presentation of the individual cameras and prints on paper.
The ChronoScapes LED video screening will remain on display during Sarah Crawley’s research and development residency in June 2025.
Solargraphs by community participants: Alana Mullaly, Angela Somerset, Anita Whotschel, Anne Cumming, Anthony Shackell, Benjamin Dunstan, Bobby Denton, Brian Latta, Caresse Nadeau, Carly Ball, Carolyn Kirk-Albert, Cassidy Gehmlich, Cathy Cotes, Chris Gaio, Christopher Hauschildt, Claire Donovan, Cole Mishkel, Crystal Pond, Dave Ingram, Dave Innes, David Ballantyne, David Lawson, David Volkert, Dawn Copeman, Denise Lawson, Devon Sieven, Elisabeth Lee, Eve Adams, Gabe Moore, Gary Schaan, Glenn Gustafson, Glenn Lawson, Griffin Halpin, Griffin Lindquist, Janess Iverson, Jasmin Badrin, Jasmine McMullen, Jeannette Reindhart, Jenny Casey, Joel Fox, John Tansley, Joyce Lindemulder, Kat Radford, Kate Panatof, Katie Lawson, Kendra Lee, Krista Tupper, Libby Lang, Linda Perron, Lindsay Banfield, Liz Radermacher, Lorraine Martinuik, Luba Hazeldine, Luise Hermanutz, Madeleine Wood, Mark Laurin, Martha Jablonski-Jones, Maryellen Polikoff, Megan Burkholder, Megan Moon, Mickey Girard, Nilay Carlson, Peter Kendell, Rachael Henshaw, Renee Poisson, Rhea Whitehead, Robin Mumblo, Ron Pogue, Sham Sandhu, Teri Burgress, Terri McCormack, Thomas Nicholson, Tom, Vivian Vaillant, Wendy Smith, Xavier Thygesen, and Yvonne Jones.
PINHOLE CAMERA PROJECT
Participant Statements:
“The camera was put up on our front fence post facing south on a quiet street in Cumberland. The regular movement the camera would have recorded would have been that of our family coming and going, on foot and in our car. We have many visits from deer and bear walking down our street and from time to time nibbling on our lawn. The spot was chosen for lots of sun, and for it’s view of the street and any local traffic and movement it would pick up. ”
– Megan Moon (Cumberland)
“I placed one camera above a door on the first floor and the second on a window sill on the second floor. Both faced due south, were indoors and looked over our backyard and vegetable garden with mountains in the far distance. Lots of immediate and distant tall trees. The rooms were lit irregularly so here’s hoping that did not compromise the results.”
– David Volkert (Merville)
“My camera was installed in the front window of my home looking out towards the South in Comox. It is where I sit and watch the sun move across the sky. My camera was protected from the elements and, I hope, will produce an interesting image.”
– Claire Donovan (Guthrie Road, Comox)
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Sarah Crawley:
Sarah Crawley is a photo-based artist whose work explores aspects of memory and identity based on ideas generated from lived experience. Working primarily with analog photography she has also explored combining printmaking — specifically screen-printing, etching and blind embossing — with the photographic image. Her works have been exhibited as large-scale prints, installations and book works. Crawley has mounted numerous solo exhibitions in galleries across Canada including The ODD Gallery (Dawson City, YK), Estevan Art Gallery and Museum (Estevan, SK), Platform Centre for Photographic and Digital Arts (Winnipeg, MB), aceartinc (Winnipeg MB), Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba (Brandon, MB), The Photographers Gallery (Saskatoon, SK), Stride Gallery (Calgary, AB) and Gallery Connexion (Fredericton, NB). Her photographic works have been included in many group exhibitions including Subconscious City at The Winnipeg Art Gallery, Latitudes at the Belgrade Cultural Centre, Serbia and Proof (2) at Gallery 44, (Toronto, ON). Her work is held in the City of Winnipeg Public Art Collection, The Province of Manitoba Art Collection, The Government of Canada Global Affairs Department Art Collection, The Walter Phillips Gallery Collection at The Banff Centre for the Arts, and the Visual Art Bank of the Manitoba Arts Council, among others. An active member of the visual art community in Winnipeg, Crawley enjoys sharing her passion for photography through teaching and mentoring and is currently engaged in a community public art project with the South Valour Residents Association through the Winnipeg Arts Council’s WITH ART program.
Sarah continues to conduct creative research related to her solargraphy practice as part of CVAG’s Curatorial Summer Residency program 2025.
Sarah Crawley previously participated in CVAG’s program in | at | on : RETURN TO WATER 2023. Ethereal lens-based images portrayed investigations at the place where land meets the water’s edge. Utilizing pinhole photography, lumen printing, and video, her exhibition as the wind blew: the ground beneath me | at the water’s edge | in its path explored embodied experiences of loss and vulnerability.
