YORKTON — A new exhibition at the Godfrey Dean Art Gallery is inviting visitors to look beyond the traditional photograph and reconsider how images are experienced.
Glimpse, a solo exhibition by Winnipeg artist Meganelizabeth Diamond, is on display through Sept. 19. The show features photographic works and sculptural objects inspired by clouds and the changing sky, using a mix of analog and digital processes to explore themes of impermanence, perception and memory.
Diamond, whose practice spans photography, sculpture and new media, said the exhibition grew out of years spent documenting the sky and experimenting with ways to transform photographs into physical forms.
“My practice is basically rooted in watching the sky,” says Diamond.
The exhibition includes aluminum sky scans, resin prints, image transfers, Polaroid-based works and images printed on flexible Lexan material. Rather than presenting photographs as flat images on a wall, Diamond said she is interested in exploring what a photograph can become when it moves into three-dimensional space.
“I’m trying to think about what a photograph is and why, or how, it can be something beyond just a flat object,” she said.
The collection draws heavily on cloud formations, which serve as both the subject matter and a framework for the work. Images appear, disappear and re-emerge across different materials, reflecting the constantly changing nature of the atmosphere.
In an exhibition statement, Diamond describes the project as an exploration of “fleeting encounters, afterimages, and the transient nature of observation.”
The artist began developing the body of work about three years ago and has continued expanding it through ongoing documentation of the sky. Some pieces originate as Polaroids of clouds that are later scanned and manipulated, while others evolve through experimental printing and fabrication techniques.
Diamond said visitors may notice several works printed on flexible Lexan sheets that curve and bend throughout the gallery space. The material was chosen in part because of its physical properties.
“I’m of the opinion of letting the materials do what they want to do,” she said.
That approach reflects a broader interest in blurring the boundaries between image and object, representation and abstraction.
Originally from Manitoba, Diamond is the executive and artistic director of Platform Centre for Photographic and Digital Arts in Winnipeg. She also serves as chair of the board for Buffalo Berry Press and Black Flash Magazine and previously directed the Winnipeg Underground Film Festival.
Her work has been exhibited and screened across Canada, with recent projects focusing on atmospheric observation and the relationship between photography and materiality.
Diamond travelled to Yorkton to install Glimpse and attend the exhibition opening, marking her first visit to the city.
The exhibition is supported by the Manitoba Arts Council and will remain on display at the Godfrey Dean Art Gallery until Sept. 19. Gallery visitors can view a collection that challenges conventional ideas of photography while encouraging reflection on a subject that is both familiar and ever-changing.
For Diamond, the work is rooted in moments that are brief and constantly changing.
“A glimpse. A blink. A cloud already becoming something else.”
