Jessica Auer

Jessica Auer is a documentary-style landscape photographer from Montreal. Her work is broadly concerned with the study of cultural sites, focusing on themes that connect place, journey and cultural experience. Her first book, Ummarked Sites, received several mentions as one of the top ten photography books published in 2011. Jessica is a co-founder of Galerie Les Territoires in Montréal and teaches photography at Concordia University. She is represented by Patrick Mikhail Gallery in Ottawa. Today we take a look at her series titled Re-Creational Spaces.

01_Auer_Jessica_Las-Vegas_oLas Vegas, Nevada, 2005

02_Auer_Jessica_Niagara-Falls_oNiagara Falls, New York 2005

Re-creational Spaces

Since 2004, my fascination with tourism has led me to photograph popular destinations. Images from this project show how landscape has been preserved, altered or commodified for sightseeing. This on-going series invites the viewer to consider the historical and cultural significance of these places as well question the tourist’s role in observing these sites.

03_Auer_Jessica_Machu-Picchu_oMachu Picchu, Peru, 2007

04_Auer_Jessica_Iguazu-National-Park_oIguazu National Park, Argentina, 2007

05_Auer_Jessica_Uxmal_oUxmal, Mexico, 2007

06_Auer_Jessica_Icefields-Parkway_oIcefields Parkway, Alberta 2007

07_Auer_Jessica_Yellowstone-1_oYellowstone National Park #1, Wyoming, 2007

08_Auer_Jessica_Glacier-National-Park_oGlacier National Park, British Columbia, 2007

09_Auer_Jessica_Bear-Butte_oBear Butte, South Dakota, 2007

Death Valley 1 001Death Valley, California, 2010

Schynige Platte 001Schynige Platte, Switzerland, 2010

Bessegen 001Bessegen Ridge, Norway, 2010

Skogafoss_med 001Skogafoss, Iceland, 2011

Since earning her MFA in Studio Arts from Concordia University in 2007, she has exhibited her work in galleries and museums in Canada and abroad, including The Canadian Centre for Architecture (Montreal), VU Photo (Quebec City), Patrick Mikhail Gallery (Ottawa) and Newspace Centre for Photography (Portland, Oregon). She is the recipient of several awards including the W.B. Bruce European Fine Art Travel Fellowship (2011) and the Roloff Beny Prize (2005).

To view more of Jessica’s work please visit her website.