Winter
My long‑term project Winter documents the Canadian North. The photographs capture the lighter side of life, with hints of dubious undertones. Together, the wood piles, snow removal, and red lights symbolize the quiet negotiations of a darkened northern life, where the deepest winter offers only five hours of natural light.
I once wrote a letter to photographer Todd Hido. I told him how, when I’m shooting
outside, I use darkness as a vantage point rather than a point of emptiness — a place where I am invisible and therefore free to observe. Inside is a different story. Winter routines, like running a bath, become small choreographies in the dark that move between interior and exterior spaces.
In the letter, I said that when people appear in my photographs, they are only partially
revealed, faceless bodies — an approach used by artist Carolyn Drake in Knit Club. I told Mr. Hido how night shooting gives me a sense of tension and agency that heightens my feelings of exclusion while simultaneously giving me control. I told him, driving through the dark in search of a nocturnal tableau is a method and thrill.
I never sent the letter.