Orest Semchishen Explained

Orest Semchishen
Birth Place:Mundare, Alberta
Known For:photographer

Orest Semchishen (born 1932) is a Canadian photographer whose prints of Alberta document and evoke specific places and people in subjects such as rural communities, ethnic groups and prairie farms and collectively give a sense of Canada.[1] The stark images reveal an economic disparity that scarcely resembles official photographs of the country. He lives in Edmonton.

Career

Semchishen was born in Mundare, Alberta, the grandson of Ukrainian immigrants.[2] In the early 1970s, after he had retired from a career as a radiologist he decided to take extension classes at the University of Alberta and become a photographer. Concerned about the abandonment of rural Byzantine rite churches, he systematically recorded them using a view camera[3] along with disappearing Albertan localities as they were 40 years ago (these black-and-white works date from 1973 to 1986).[2] His major influence is said to be the American photographer Walker Evans but he developed his own style, distinguished by its "restrained lucidity".[3]

Exhibitions

Semchishen has had a number of solo exhibitions from 1976 on, among them one of the Chinese community in 1985, Dragon to Phoenix and one of Trappers in the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies (1989).[4] In 1992, his work was exhibited in Presence of the Prairie at the Edmonton Art Gallery. His many group exhibitions include two at the National Film Board (1975 and 1983) and one at the National Gallery of Canada (1981). In 2006, Through Alberta Eyes – The Photographs of Orest Semchishen was shown at the art gallery at Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, NS.[2]

Selected public collections

His work has been collected by public institutions in Canada including Library and Archives Canada which holds the extensive body of his work (c. 1970-1994);[5] the National Gallery of Canada;[6] the Alberta Foundation for the Arts; [7] Art Gallery of Alberta,[8] The Bohdan Medwidsky Ukrainian Folklore Archives, University of Alberta;[9] the Glenbow Museum;[10] Winnipeg Art Gallery;[11] the Provincial Archives of Alberta;[12] and the Remai Modern in Saskatoon,[13] among others.

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Fenton. Terry. Orest Semchishen . www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca . Canadian Encyclopedia . 14 September 2022.
  2. Web site: Through Alberta Eyes – The Photographs of Orest Semchishen . www.msvuart.ca . 16 August 2019 . MSVU AG . 13 September 2022.
  3. Book: "A Short History of Photography, 1900–2000". The Visual Arts in Canada: the Twentieth Century. Langford . Martha . 287-288. 2010. Oxford University Press. Foss, Brian, Paikowsky, Sandra, Whitelaw, Anne (eds.). 978-0-19-542125-5. Don Mills, Ont.. 432401392 .
  4. Web site: "Biography". Presence of the Prairie. . Edmonton A.G., 1992. 16 September 2022.
  5. Web site: Orest Semchishen fonds . recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca . Government of Canada . 14 September 2022.
  6. Web site: Orest Semchishen . www.gallery.ca . National Gallery of Canada . 13 September 2022.
  7. Web site: Collection . alberta.emuseum.com . Alberta Foundation for the Arts . 13 September 2022.
  8. Web site: Collection . /www.youraga.ca . Art Gallery of Alberta . 13 September 2022.
  9. Web site: Collection . archives.ukrfolk.ca . u . 13 September 2022.
  10. Web site: Collection . /ww2.glenbow.org . Glenbow Museum, Calgary . 13 September 2022.
  11. Web site: Collection . /www.wag.ca . Winnipeg Art Gallery . 13 September 2022.
  12. Web site: Fonds paa-8470 - Orest Semchishen fonds . albertaonrecord.ca . Provincial Archives of Alberta . 29 November 2023.
  13. Web site: Collection . collections.remaimodern.org . Remai Modern, Saskatoon . 13 September 2022.

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