hello! first of all, let’s start this guest post off by saying how jealous i am of victoria and her fabulous trip to europe – soooo jealous! ok, there. now that that’s out of the way, i wanted to tell you about a beautiful show that i’ve just had the incredible honor of curating. it’s titled pieces of the moon and it opens on thursday june 30^th at catalog gallery, in vancouver. i tried to edit my statement down to a blog-friendly size, but i didn’t want to leave out any of the details, so, here, in a curatorial nutshell, is what this lovely show is all about:

over the past decade, american photographer mikael kennedy has taken thousands of polaroids during what has been often described as a “kerouac-esque” journey, wandering back and forth across the continent, hitching rides, couch surfing, moving from city to city. in 2010, kennedy had his first solo show in new york city, titled shoot the moon with the peter hay halpert gallery who now represents this immense body of work. shoot the moon, an exhibition 500 polaroids was an introduction to kennedy’s story, edited down from the thousands of polaroids. i have looked at this series countless times, and while all of his work is a mysterious narrative, it is the photographs of the women that have completely drawn me in.

pieces of the moon features 50 images that have been pulled from the original shoot the moon show. when the photographs of these women are shown along-side the other 450 images in that series, they’re a quiet part of the overall story, but when hung together in this smaller, more focused grouping they create a beautiful, feminine view into the personal life of the artist. there is an undeniable intimacy in each image, revealing an obvious closeness to the subject – however, to the viewer, the details still remain vague. were these friends, lovers, strangers, or all of the above? the images are titled with the name of the woman, the location of the photo, and the year, leaving it completely up to the viewer to piece these relationships, friendships, and chance meetings together. these are the women that have shaped mikael kennedy’s life over the past decade – and they are beautiful.”

sigh – so gorgeous. if you’re in vancouver on thursday june 30^th, please stop by and say hello!

pieces of the moon photographs by mikael kennedy

opening reception, thursday june 30, 6pm ~ late

exhibit: june 30 ~ july 17

catalog gallery, 56 powell street, vancouver

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