"
Participation in the exhibition Roundabout and in the opening of the CONTACT'02
Toronto Photography Festival is an honour I truly value. CONTACT was probably
the impetus, along with Montreal's Mois de la Photo, for the organization
of Halifax's first photography festival, Photopolis which involved 25 exhibitions
in 13 venues. Bob (Robert Bean) was one of the primary organizers of this
event. Bob and I both work in an academic institutional setting composed of
artist/anarchist personalities, funding crises and very tight working quarters.
However, we also work in a College photo facility that, by most accounts,
is the best in the country in terms of quality and working environment. Bob
has been a principal player in creating and managing this space. The surroundings
I work in are changing; new programs are being developed and old ones are
being transformed. Bob, again, is one of the leaders in this transition. As
an engaged and active individual, Bob's artwork is challenging and distinctive.
The work represents Bob's predisposition to be delighted by the mundane, enchanted
by the everyday, and absorbed in the theoretical and academic project of creating
substance out of disorder. The work in this exhibition, which he first described
to me as ,anxiety objects', is a remarkable indicator of Bob's constant state
of observation. I love the fact that these articles were collected in varied
circumstances over a period of six years - that the idea was alive and growing
and placed somewhere, carefully, in a box ready for an opportunity to be realized."
