JESSICA AUER

JESSICA AUER

Jessica Auer is a documentary-style landscape photographer from Montreal. Drawing inspiration from history and archeology, her work is largely concerned with the study of cultural sites. From the beaten track to the frontier, Auer explores places where history and mythology are woven into the landscape, and where contemporary landscape issues emerge. Taking on the role of observer-participant, her photographs present narratives that incite the viewer to engage with place using their imagination, as well as look at the practice of sightseeing from a critical perspective.

MEADOW
In MEADOW, Jessica Auer presents a photographic installation that questions our perception of nature. In this body of work, Auer looks at the simulated environment of the meadow from multiple perspectives.
Created in part on a journey throughout Europe, MEADOW begins as a personal exploration of the artist’s family name and history. Auer, whose name translates as “from the meadow,” embarked on a search for places that bear this description. Observing that these idyllic sites are mostly an illusion of nature; often the trees have been cut down and trails have been blazed, Auer recognizes that as human beings, we also impose our own cultural impressions upon the meadow. Figured throughout the history of painting and photography, and used as a stage in literature and cinema, the meadow cannot help but bear the nuances of a tranquil paradise. Reality and imagination interweave throughout this installation of large-scale photographs. Although the meadow is offered as the setting for Auer’s own personal mythology, she invites the viewer to bring his or her own reveries to the MEADOW.

Since 2004, her fascination with tourism has led her to photograph popular destinations. Images from Re-creational Spaces show how landscape has been preserved, altered, or commodified for sightseeing. This ongoing series invites the viewer to consider the historical and cultural significance of these places, as well question the tourist’s responsibility in observing these sites. Bearing in mind that the tourist industry moderates our understanding of place, Auer seeks to provoke reflection on personal experience, cultural authenticity, and the collective memory of specific sites.

While frequently engaged in dynamic journeys, Auer has also been creating narratives that travel through time and space. In her book Unmarked Sites, she pursues photography like an archeologist, searching for cultural sites throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. While looking to the land for signs of the past, she examines the relationship between landscape and regional identity. The resulting narrative reveals the intricacies that relate exploration, settlement, preservation, and modern tourism.

In another journey, Auer’s work takes the form of a large-scale photographic installation. Meadow is the result of a summer photographing meadows throughout Europe. These idealized landscapes reflect a personal exploration of her family name and history (the name Auer denotes “from the meadow”), however, she embraces the notion that the viewer will project their own cultural impressions onto the images.

Since early 2011, Auer has been working on a project that takes inspiration from Viking Sagas, the literary chronicles that recount life during the settlement era of Iceland and the migration that eventually lead to the chance discovery of North America by Europeans. These sagas, which were written in the 13th Century, were first conveyed orally and then transcribed approximately two hundred years after they took place. Guided by these westward exploration routes, Auer is creating a visual interpretation of this history, which is part fiction and part documentary. Though her research often looks to the past, Auer presents the idea of place through a contemporary lens, situating herself as a tourist-explorer.

Jessica Auer received her MFA in Studio Arts from Concordia University in 2007 and is the recipient of several grants and awards such as the W.B. Bruce European Fine Art Travel Fellowship and the Roloff Beny Prize. Her work has been exhibited in Canada and the United States and is held in various private and public collections, including the Musée Nationale des Beaux Arts du Québec and the Canada Council Art Bank. Auer is a co-founder and co-director of Galerie Les Territoires in Montréal and teaches photography at Concordia University. She is represented by Patrick Mikhail Gallery in Ottawa.


CURRICULUM VITAE

EDUCATION
2007 Master of Fine Arts, Studio Arts, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec
2001 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major in Photography, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2012​ Meadow, Patrick Mikhail Gallery, Ottawa.
2012​ Re-creational Spaces, Newspace Center for Photography, Portland, Oregon
2011 Essential Projects Series 002: Book launch at Patrick Mikhail Gallery, Ottawa
2011 Unmarked Sites, Les Territoires, Montreal
2008 Re-creational Spaces, Toronto Image Works Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
2007 Jessica Auer: Photographs, Fofa Gallery, Vitrines, Montreal, Quebec
2007 Re-creational Spaces, Galerie Thérèse Dion, Montreal, Quebec
2002 Canadian Canals Series, Bonaventure Convention Centre, Montreal, Quebec
2002 Brome County, Brome County Museum and Gallery, Knowlton, Quebec

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2012​ Critical Mass Top 50, (curator: Darius Himes) Traveling exhibition: Photo Center NW, Seattle, Newspace Center for Photography, Portland and Rayko Photo Center, San Francisco
2012 Papier 12 Contemporary Art Fair, Montreal, Quebec
2012 PMG Editions Project, Patrick Mikhail Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario
2011 Artwork featured in the George Eastman House Benefit Auction, Rochester, New York
2010 The Triumph of the Therapeutic, Patrick Mikhail Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario
2010 Artwork Featured at Les Editions Esse Benefit Auction, Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Quebec
2009 Preoccupations, Fofa Gallery, Montreal, Quebec
2009 Monumental, Galerie Projex-Mtl, Montreal, Quebec
2009 Entre + Deux, Les Territoires, Montreal, Quebec
2007 Ailleurs Ici (public installation), Musée d’Art Urbain, Montreal, Quebec
2005 Photo de la Francophonie, University of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
2001 Flash!, VAV Gallery, Montreal, Quebec
2001 XX5, VAV Gallery, Montreal, Quebec
2001 Out of Order, Leonard and Bina Ellen Gallery, Montreal, Quebec
2001 Shot, Alternative Space, Montreal, Quebec
2001 Overdue, VAV Gallery, Montreal, Quebec

COMMISSIONS, RESIDENCIES, ART FAIRS AND PORTFOLIO REVIEWS
2012 ​ Artist in residence at the Leighton Colony, Banff Centre, Alberta
2010 Artwork featured at Toronto International Art Fair, Toronto, Ontario
2010 Meeting Place Portfolio Review, Fotofest Biennale, Houston, Texas
2009 Toronto International Art Fair (TIAF)
2009 Portfolio review participant (by invitation), Le Mois de la Photo, Montreal, Quebec
2009 Montainstandardtimelab Artist in Residence, The Banff Centre, Banff, Alberta
2008 Co-founder of Les Territoires contemporary art gallery, Montreal, Quebec
2008 Portfolio review participant, Santa Fe Center for Photography, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2007 Toronto International Art Fair (TIAF)
2007 Portfolio review participant Le Mois de la Photo, Montreal, Quebec
2002 Photographic Commission (creation of a photographic series for the World Canals Conference), Parks Canada

AWARDS AND GRANTS
2011 Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Quebec, artistic research and creation grant: The Viking Sagas
2011 W.B. Bruce European Fine Art Travel Fellowship
2011 AARE Grant from Concordia University
2011 Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Quebec: travel grant for Portland, Oregon
2010 Mois de la Photo Portfolio Review Prize
2009 Artistic Research and Creation Grant, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Quebec
2008 Travel Grant (Santa Fe, New Mexico), Conseil des arts et des lettres du Quebec
2008 Emerging Photographers: Canadian Winner, Magenta Foundation, Flash Forward
2008 Travel Grant (Toronto, Ontario), Conseil des arts et des lettres du Quebec
2007 Centre Interuniversitaire des Arts Médiatiques (CIAM) Grant
2005 Roloff Beny Prize
2004 J.W. McConnell Memorial Graduate Fellowship, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec
2004 Sheila and Mervyn Kussner Scholarship in Fine Arts, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec
2001 Mills Purchase Prize, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec
2001 Canadian Centre for Architecture Prize, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec
2000 Agfa Prize for Overall Achievement in Photography, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec
1999 Heather Walker Memorial Scholarship in Fine Arts, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec

COLLECTIONS
Musée des Beaux Arts du Québec; Canada Council Art Bank; Fidelity Investments; CollectArt; Standard Life; Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec; Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec, Montreal, Quebec

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2009 - Present Assistant Professor, Studio Arts, Photography, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec
2008 - Present Co-founder and Board of Directors, Galerie Les Territoires, Montreal, Quebec
2008 - 2009 University Instructor, part-time faculty in Studio Arts, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec
2004 - 2009 College Instructor, part-time faculty in Visual Arts and Arts and Culture Studies,Champlain Regional College, St. Lambert, Quebec
2005 - 2006 University Instructor, Graduate Student position, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY, PUBLICATIONS, REVIEWS AND INTERVIEWS
2011 ​The age of self-publishing, SPOT magazine, Houston Center for Photography, (fall 2011) p. 42.
2011​ Unmarked Sites (hardbound artist book, edition of 500) Les Territoires.
2010 VENDU-SOLD, Les Éditions Esse, Benefit Auction Catalogue
2010 Forum, Camera Austria International no. 111.
2010 Master Craftsman: Beyond the Visible, Smart Photography, July 2010, pp.68-74.
2009 Preoccupations (exhibition catalogue), Fofa Gallery
2009 “Institutional Initiatives: MAU”, Ciel Variable 82 (summer 2009): 14-18.
2008 Flash Forward 2008 Emerging photographers from Canada, Great Britain and the United States, Magenta Foundation for the Arts
2008 “Les Arts and Les Autres with Line Boily.” Radio Canada (March 2008).
2007 Kasprzak, Michelle. “Ways out of the Labyrinth: The Works of Jessica Auer.” Ciel Variable 77 (Winter 2007) : 22-29.
2007 Redfern, Christine. “Tourist Trip.” Mirror 39, vol. 22 (March) : 22-28.
2007 Mavrikakis, Nicolas. “Jessica Auer,” Voir 12, vol. 21 (March) : 22-28.
2007 Crevier, Lyne. “Lifting.” Ici 26, vol. 10 (March 29 – April 4).



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