AN ARCHIVAL VIEW:

HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY ON THE NORTH SHORE (1861 to 2021)

This exhibition presents a history of photographic processes through examples found in the Archives of North Vancouver. There is a focus on the technological evolution of photography and the changing social uses of images. Prominent photographers working on the North Shore are highlighted throughout the exhibition, such as Jack Wardlaw; however, the vernacular nature of archival collections also presents an opportunity to share images created by amateurs as a byproduct of their daily lives.

Beginning with the daguerreotype, original photographic objects representative of ten historical processes are organized chronologically according to the time period the process was invented and most commonly used. This structure reflects the overlapping nature of the development of photographic processes, and demonstrates how frequently experimentation, development, and progress was made in the field.

The physical exhibition at the Archives of North Vancouver draws attention to the unique materiality of each photograph. This reveals qualities specific to a photograph’s creation, use and preservation over time.

The digital exhibition on the MONOVA website provides an additional gallery of photographs with commentary on their social use. The four themes are: Portraiture, Documentary, Art, and Print Media Reproduction.

An Archival View acknowledges that there is no singular history of photography, and that some histories have yet to be shared, discovered, or adequately and meaningfully engaged with. As a result of past institutional collecting practices, this exhibition presents a history of photography that is primarily told through a North American, colonial, white settler lens. In response to this, the selection process for this exhibition prioritized images of and/or taken by underrepresented communities that were available in the
collections. This curatorial approach revealed a notable absence of recorded information about the people both represented in the selected photos and the people who were behind the camera. Therefore, a critical
engagement with the photographs included in this exhibition is recommended.

This exhibition presents a history of photographic processes through examples found in the Archives of North Vancouver. There is a focus on the technological evolution of photography and the changing social uses of images. Prominent photographers working on the North Shore are highlighted throughout the exhibition, such as Jack Wardlaw; however, the vernacular nature of archival collections also presents an opportunity to share images created by amateurs as a byproduct of their daily lives.

Beginning with the daguerreotype, original photographic objects representative of ten historical processes are organized chronologically according to the time period the process was invented and most commonly used. This structure reflects the overlapping nature of the development of photographic processes, and demonstrates how frequently experimentation, development, and progress was made in the field.

The physical exhibition at the Archives of North Vancouver draws attention to the unique materiality of each photograph. This reveals qualities specific to a photograph’s creation, use and preservation over time.

The digital exhibition on the MONOVA website provides an additional gallery of photographs with commentary on their social use. The four themes are: Portraiture, Documentary, Art, and Print Media Reproduction.

An Archival View acknowledges that there is no singular history of photography, and that some histories have yet to be shared, discovered, or adequately and meaningfully engaged with. As a result of past institutional collecting practices, this exhibition presents a history of photography that is primarily told through a North American, colonial, white settler lens. In response to this, the selection process for this exhibition prioritized images of and/or taken by underrepresented communities that were available in the
collections. This curatorial approach revealed a notable absence of recorded information about the people both represented in the selected photos and the people who were behind the camera. Therefore, a critical
engagement with the photographs included in this exhibition is recommended.

When
viewing the
photographs,
consider:

>    How did these photographs end up in the Archives of North Vancouver?

>   What contextual information is missing?

>   What photographs are we not seeing, and why?