In May 2022 Jessica took part in Artlink’s residency programme, where she carried out a photographic survey of the military fort at Dunree Head. She examined the architecture of the site as a structure of surveillance, drawing theoretical parallels with the observational and voyeuristic characteristics inherent in the mediums of photography and videography. With the material collected during this visit, she put together a small series of photographs and a 10-minute video. However the project is not complete and she hopes to return to Ireland in 2024 to bring this project to fruition.
Jessica also collaborated with Roberto Uribe Castro and curator Adriana Valderrama on documenting Roberto’s Landmark installation for a publication by the University of Ulster.
Walk and Talk: Jessica Auer
Online 14th November 2021
Jessica conducted a live walk and talk virtual event on Facebook. She gave a tour of Seyðisfjörður in East Iceland ending at her studio and workshop Ströndin studio.
Jessica Auer is a Canadian photographer, filmmaker and educator, who works from a decommissioned fish factory in Seydisfjördur, East Iceland. Her work is broadly concerned with the study of landscapes as cultural sites. Through a research-based practice, she examines our social, political and aesthetic attitudes towards place, including but not limited to – historical sites, tourist destinations, and small communities.
Working mainly with large format photography, Jessica is best known for her tableau-style photographs that examine the ways in which landscapes have been preserved, altered or commodified for sightseeing. Through these photographs, she expresses a deep concern for nature and the vulnerability of remote sites and communities when confronted with mass tourism. Her images aim to reveal the geo-political realities surrounding travel and the paradox of attempting to preserve the same landscapes that the industry often seeks to exploit.
Jessica received her MFA from Concordia University in Montréal, where she teaches part-time in the Photography department. Her work has been presented in the Canadian Center for Architecture, The Reykjavík Museum of Photography and the COTM photography festival in Cortona, Italy. She has been featured by Prefix Photo (Canada), Femmes Photographes (Paris), Radio Canada International, ARTE television network, and the Guardian. She has participated in residencies at the Banff Centre in Canada, The Brucebo Foundation in Gotland and Bær Art Center in Iceland.
- May 31, 2022
