In 2008, Montrealer Benoit Aquin--who had the unglamorous job of shooting for local alt-weeklies from 1989 to 2001--won the $75,000 international Prix Pictet in photography and sustainability for his documentation of Chinese dust storms. With that series of work now showing at Stephen Bulger Gallery in Toronto, I sat down for a brief chat with Aquin. Today, the National Post published our condensed Q&A. Here's an excerpt which actually kind of surprised me--on culture as a sustainability issue:
Q Is there anything else you'd want people to think about when looking at these pictures?
A Well, I wish our governments would invest more in cultural institutions and in art, because I think it creates strong bonds between people. And I think those bonds protect us from chaos. Think of Haiti, or Somalia -- these are places where cultural institutions were underestimated. I worked in Haiti recently. When I see our governments cutting into culture, I don't think it's very lucid.
Q So culture is a different kind of sustainability issue?
A Yes, it's very important. Chaos can appear very quickly, and things can change very fast. If there is creativity and bonds between people, it may take a better direction when something hard happens.
Image of one of Aquin's dust bowl pictures from photographie.com
Showing posts with label Benoit Aquin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Benoit Aquin. Show all posts
Thursday, March 11, 2010
From Rice Bowl to Dust Bowl: Q&A with award-winning photog Benoit Aquin
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Benoit Aquin,
stephen bulger gallery
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