AN INVITATION TO THE COMMUNITY TO TAKE PART IN “SEEING” OUR FAVOURITE PLACES THROUGH A TINY LENS
Artist Sarah Crawley and the Comox Valley Art Gallery are inviting the community to participate in a magical lens-based project. Participants will capture selected outdoor spaces in the Comox Valley in a six-month long exposure using pinhole cameras. (June 20 – December 20, 2024)
The plan is to have 100 cameras situated throughout the valley — in a spot chosen by each individual that takes part in the project.
Small pinhole cameras that have been put together by the CVAG student interns + gallery assistants + the artist will be given out to those who sign up to participate in the project. After six months, the cameras will be brought back to the gallery, where they will be opened and the images developed to create solargraphs (unique photographic pictures that result from the tiny pinhole of sunlight exposing the special paper inside the cameras). The images will be shared by the gallery as a digital exhibition in 2025. Paper-based copies will be given to each participant to keep.
WHAT IS A PINHOLE CAMERA? A simple lensless camera with a pinhole sized aperture — effectively a light-proof box with a small hole in one side. Light passes through the aperture and projects an inverted image of the outside scene onto the inside of the box. This natural optical phenomenon is called a “camera obscura”. The size of the images depends on the distance between the object and the pinhole.
WHAT IS SOLARGRAPHY? A slow technological process of creating photographs of the daily path of the sun across the sky using a pinhole camera and exposure periods measured in days, months, or years.
Pinhole images courtesy of artist from a Winnipeg community Pinhole Camera Project.
HOW TO TAKE PART IN THE PROJECT
- register online (sorry, registration is now closed)
- attend the pick up day event on June 20 to get your camera, meet the artist + learn more about solargraghy
- install the camera at your chosen site as soon as possible after pick up
- take down + return the camera on December 21 during the Solstice Celebration — take down the camera + bring it to the gallery between 10:00am – 5:00pm
- or return another day — return the camera to CVAG on December 20 between 10:00am – 6:00pm, December 22 between 12:00 – 5:00pm, or December 23 between 10:00am – 4:00pm (if for some reason you are not able to return the camera before the holiday break, please bring it to the gallery by end of day on January 11)
DECEMBER 20 – JANUARY 11 | CAMERA RETURN
It’s coming up on six months since participants of the Pinhole Camera Project installed their cameras around the Comox Valley. It’s now time to collect the cameras so that the images can be developed to create solargraphs.
Solstice to solstice you have gathered the sunlight in your tiny cameras.
Participants are now asked to:
TAKE DOWN + BRING their cameras to the gallery
Saturday, December 21, during the CVAG Solstice Celebration
OR return their cameras another day.
GALLERY HOURS: Wednesday – Saturday, 10:00am – 5:00pm
SPECIAL HOURS:
Friday, December 20, 10:00am – 6:00pm
Sunday, December 22, 12:00 – 5:00pm
Monday, December 23, 10:00am – 4:00pm
CVAG will be CLOSED December 24, 2024 – January 14, 2025.
INSTRUCTIONS for taking down your camera:
- carefully remove from its installed site
- immediately tape over the pinhole lens (use the red piece of tape or another piece of heavy duty tape that does not allow light into the camera — not masking tape)
- DO NOT OPEN your camera!
- bring the camera to CVAG — be sure to check in with our team, don’t just leave it at the front desk
- bring your registration number if you have it — no worries if you don’t, we have a check list
- if you are so inspired we would love a short written (legibly) note about your experience with your camera, why you chose the location you did, and/or a site sketch
Wondering when you will see the results from your camera? More information will be coming to you about the development of the image, when you will receive your print, and other associated activities.
JUNE 20 | PINHOLE CAMERA + SOLARGRAPHY EVENT
Sarah Crawley visited CVAG to talk about pinhole cameras/solargraphy — including how to choose the best sites and securely install cameras — with participants of the Pinhole Camera Project and others interested.
Timestamps:
0:00 – 4:00 – Intro
7:20 – 7:56 – Solargraphy
7:56 – 11:17 – Pinhole Artists Collective
11:17 – 13:25 – How Pinhole Photography Works
13:25 – 14:46 – DIY Solargraphy
14:46 – 19:50 – Showing the Cameras
19:50 – 23:27 – Installing the Camera
23:27 – 34:40 – Showing the Pictures
34:40 – 57:54 – Q&A
SARAH CRAWLEY | ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
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.
Crawley acknowledges living on and engaging with Treaty One Territory, the original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and the homeland of the Red River Métis Nation. The artist gratefully acknowledges the support of the Winnipeg Arts Council, the Manitoba Arts Council and John Ervin.
This project is in association with CVAG’s Curated Residency Program – Summer of 2024.
Past projects at CVAG by Sarah Crawley:
as the wind blew: the ground beneath me, at the water’s edge, in its path