Tag: <span>The Craig Gallery</span>

A selection of photos from my current exhibition at The Craig Gallery in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

Dartmouth Now and Then

I took some photos in Dartmouth in 1978, apparently forgot about them altogether, and rediscovered them 40 years later, tucked into a negative sleeve with the cryptic notation, “Dartmouth — The Enchanted City.” (What a title!) Delighted by this find, I went back to rephotograph the same locations. This exhibition also includes some photos of Dartmouth taken in the past few years. It’s amazing how the area’s natural landscape and urban landscape have transformed over time. When we live our daily lives in a particular place, the change is so gradual that we barely notice it. But when the change is seen as a jump-cut after 40-plus years, the transformations can be drastic. And sometimes there has been barely any change at all.

When I was a young man, I was excited about the future, and yet a part of me dreaded any sort of change. The photos I took then were my way of pinning down moments in time, of grasping and understanding things I’d never seen before in my life. Changes in the physical world—as in our lives—are inevitable.

I do social landscape photography and am interested in New Topographics—the human-altered landscape–recording how human behavior and activity has affected the world. I also look for whimsical scenes, as well as elements of surrealism found in everyday life. My work is firmly planted in the documentary tradition, making photos through observation rather than through set-up and image manipulation. Photography keeps me in touch with the changing seasons and the passage of time. My images are intertwined with childhood memories, music, and locations around Hants County, Nova Scotia.

My work has been exhibited in Canada and, internationally, in France and China. The City of Toronto Archives has a collection of 700 of my digital images. Also, I have eight self-published photo books that are available online (through Blurb Books.)

Wentworth and Ochterloney, 1978 and 2022 – © Avard Woolaver

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Mic-Mac Mall, 1978 and 2023 – © Avard Woolaver

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Starr Manufacturing, 1978/ Marine Railway, 2023 – © Avard Woolaver

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Centennial Library, 1978/ Dartmouth Common, 2023 – © Avard Woolaver

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John, Ron and Mike Jackson, 1978 – © Avard Woolaver

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Dartmouth High School 50th Reunion, 2024 – © Avard Woolaver

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We’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden, Windmill Road and Nantucket Ave., 2012 – © Avard Woolaver

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View from Alderney Gate Public Library, 2014 – © Avard Woolaver

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Portland Street, 2023 – © Avard Woolaver

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View from Queen Square, 2022 – © Avard Woolaver

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Daffodil Garden for Cancer Survivors, 2022 – © Avard Woolaver

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No Bull Auto, Windmill Road, 2015 – © Avard Woolaver

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Arcade Fire at Alderney Landing, July 28, 2011 – © Avard Woolaver

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The Town Heroes at Alderney Landing, 2012 – © Avard Woolaver

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Mic-Mac Mall, 2012 – © Avard Woolaver

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Victoria Road, 2011 – © Avard Woolaver

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Wright and Wilkinson, 2018 – © Avard Woolaver

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