Carolyn Cheng

Carolyn Cheng is a contemporary Canadian photographer based in Toronto. She has shown at the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the Robert McLaughlin Gallery and Ryerson University’s Paul H. Crocker Gallery. Her work has also been awarded by the International Photography Awards (IPA), the Prix de la Photographie Paris (Px3) and the International Landscape Photographer of the Year.

“Surfacing” is a series of works that reveals the means of bitumen production from Canadian oil sands. By abstracting large scale remote mining operations from the air, the images showcase organic and ethereal shapes, vibrant yet toxic colours and the intricacies of natural patterns amongst mechanized forms of production. We see ribbons and pools of bitumen surface in calligraphy-like patterns or as Rorschach inkblots. The landscape is saturated with rainbow films, white clouds and blue sky all reflected and doubled until we examine things more closely. With reflected light, black bitumen shimmers silver, illuminating two sides of the same substance. The images also evoke the esteemed tradition of Chinese calligraphy, further conflicting the work, with the realization that these often expressive and poetic brushstrokes are the environmental waste products on tailings ponds from mining operations. “Surfacing” thus invites the viewer to reflect on their relationship with consumption and the environment.

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