The Polygon Gallery proudly presents the launch of Canadian Photographs, the latest book by renowned British-Canadian photographer Geoffrey James.

Published by Figure 1 Publishing, and designed by Naomi MacDougall, the 144-page volume offers a fresh look at Canada’s in-between spaces and forgotten places, resisting the sense of a cohesive national identity. James documents telling moments: a demolition derby in Quebec, an inmate’s decorated cell at Kingston Penitentiary, the Dickensian side door of Massey Hall in Toronto. Captured with an eye for pictorial depth and detail, James’ photographs do not shy from contradictions: the bifurcation of rural and urban, rapid growth and increasing inequality, and the slow journey toward truth and reconciliation. Largely taken from train windows in the vast terrain between the Pacific and Atlantic Coasts, this unofficial portrait of Canada brings into sharp relief the mercurial nature of the nation.

Canadian Photographs includes a conversation between the photographer and Peter Galassi, former Chief Curator of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

On the occasion of the book launch, the Artist will engage in a conversation with acclaimed art historian and curator John O’Brian, followed by a book signing.

Doors Open: 6pm
Conversation and Q&A: 6:30 – 7:30pm
Reception and Book Signing: 7:30 – 8pm

RSVPs are helpful

Geoffrey James taught himself photography shortly after immigrating to Canada from the UK in 1966, while he worked as a writer and editor with the Canadian edition of TIME. Over the past fifty years he has covered subjects that range from the tradition of European garden-making to the operational life of the Kingston Penitentiary – with each project evolving a historically and socially insightful picture of human-made environments. James has exhibited internationally, with solo museum shows at the Palazzo Braschi in Rome, the Royal Institute of British Architects in London, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the Americas Society in New York, the National Gallery of Canada, Architekturzentrum Wien, and UNESCO in Paris. In the Spring of 1998, The Presentation House Gallery (now The Polygon Gallery), premiered James’ Running Fence series alongside the award winning publication; curated and edited by Karen Love, the project toured throughout Canada until 2000. His work is in major museum collections throughout Europe and North America and he has been honored with the Gershon Iskowitz Prize and the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts among numerous honors. He is represented by the Stephen Bulger Gallery in Toronto and Equinox Gallery in Vancouver.

John O’Brian is an art historian and curator. Over the last decade he has organized six exhibitions on art and photography during the nuclear era—John Scott: Firestorm (Toronto 2024), Bombhead (Vancouver, 2018), The Nuclear Machine (Copenhagen, 2016), Camera Atomica (Toronto, 2015), After the Flash (London, 2014), Strangelove’s Weegee (Vancouver, 2013). Among his numerous publications, Beyond Wilderness: The Group of Seven, Canadian Identity and Contemporary Art (with Peter White) and The Bomb in the Wilderness: Photography and the Nuclear Era in Canada have contributed critically to understandings of how art and photography constitute Canada. He is a recipient of the Thakore Award in Human Rights and Peace Studies from Simon Fraser University and taught art history at the University of British Columbia from 1987-2017.

Banner image: Geoffrey James.