New National Gallery exhibition covers 4 decades of Canadian photography

A new exhibition launching Friday at the National Gallery of Canada will pay homage to the four decades during whichphotography emerged as a major contemporary art form in the country.

Photography in Canada, 1960-2000will feature work by nearly six dozen Canadian photographers, including Jeff Wall, Jin-me Yoon, Yousuf Karsh and Edward Burtynsky.

All the photos come from the collection of the Canadian Photography Institute, which the gallery launched in 2016.

• National Gallery of Canada to launch Canadian Photography Institute

The exhibition is intended to highlight the "diversity of photographic practice" during the four-decade period, from portraits and landscapes to documentary records and components of multimedia works, said Andrea Kunard, the institute's associate curator.

Kunard said the show will alsoexhibit the institute's extensive collection but it's not intended to be "the final word" on Canadian photography.

"I want [people] to come and appreciate the rich collections that exist here at the gallery, enjoy some of their favourite photographs, and see photographs that they've never seen before," Kunard told CBC News after Thursday's launch.

Kunard selectedmore than 100 images by 71 different Canadian photographers for the exhibition, arranging them thematically rather than chronologically in five different rooms in the gallery.

She calledtheprocess of picking and choosing the photos a"very painful" one.

"I just tried to think about the different people who have made really strong statements in the way that they've chosen to use photography," Kunardsaid Thursday.

"In the end, sometimes it was just a favouritephotograph of mine. That's just the way it works."

A second, smaller exhibition also curated by KunardcalledPhotoLab 2: Women Speaking Artwill debut at the gallery Friday as well.

That exhibition which features 14 video and photographic installations by female artists runs until Sept. 10, whilePhotography in Canada, 1960-2000will be on display until Sept. 17.