Art meets science: the worker's side of Brilliant By Dale West, Castlegar News, BC, Canada
The Kootenay Gallery of Art, History and Science opened for the 2005 season Friday night living up to its name with a "powerhouse" exhibit of black and white photographs of the Brilliant Dam expansion project.
Powerhouse, by Ursula Heller, is a close-up but artistic look at the construction of the new green energy source, focusing not as much on the physical structure but on those building it.
"We photograph the buildings, we photograph the big ships, but we forget the people who are actually doing it by hand," Heller told the opening night audience. As an added tribute to the workers, Heller did all her work by hand, printing all the photos in her little home darkroom, hand cutting every photo and receiving a little help from her husband who hand cut all the foam-core backing board. Even the mounting of the exhibit took over six hours to complete and required 500 hand-driven nails.
"It's celebrating industrial work," said Sandy Korman, gallery executive director.