2009 Optic Nerve Winners
Still Image Winner
Clare Samuel, Untitled, from the series It is Still, 2008, 72.6 x 72.6 cm, c-print
Clare Samuel is a Northern Irish artist living in Canada. She has a Photography BFA with Honours from Ryerson University, and is now completing in her final year of graduate studies at Concordia in Montreal. She has exhibited in solo and group shows across Canada and Europe, and participated in international residency programs in Canada and Ireland. Her work tends to deal with themes of borders and edges, between emotions, people and places, and they relate to desire for connection and belonging. claresamuel.com
Moving Image Winner
Karen Schulz, Once Removed, video, 30sec.
Karen Schulz was born in the rural community of Grandview, Manitoba and presently lives and makes art in Winnipeg. Photo – based printmaking, video and 3 dimensional drawings comprise a growing body of work. In 2006 she participated in a valuable year-long mentoring program with MAWA(Mentoring Artists for Womens’ Art) and subsequently received a Winnipeg Arts Council Grant to create a series of Graffiti -inspired images.
Honourable Mention Still Image Category
Jasmine Bakalarz, Ballerinas
Jasmine Bakalarz was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina and currently lives between Canada and Argentina. She completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Concordia University, with a major in photography and a minor in psychology. Her work varies from social documentary to portraiture and often deals with social issues such as gender identity, sexuality and socio-political conflicts. In her artistic practice she has travelled to various continents to explore these themes, including South America, the Middle East and Native Reserves in Northern Ontario. Currently her work largely focuses on portraits that depict children’s psychological state pertaining to their gender identity. In addition, she is continuously working on a large body of work exploring North American competitions. www.jasminebakalarz.com
Julie Oh, Paper Route
Julie Oh is an emerging artist from Saskatoon who deals with notions of identity through photographic narrative. She was born in South Korea and immigrated to Canada in 1994. Her most recent work Immigrant addresses her cross-cultural identity as a first generation immigrant. Julie holds a BFA from the University of Saskatchewan and her next project will delve into the complexity behind inter-racial friendships.
Honourable Mention Moving Image Category
Edith Dakovic, 36°N@14'19°E, from the Mer-made Products series, video, 30 seconds
Edith Dakovi is a Canadian artist living and working in Berlin, Germany. Born near Cologne Germany, Dakovic grew up in Toronto, Canada where she graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design before going on to do postgraduate studies at the Universität der Künste Berlin. Her work has been exhibited internationally and is included in collections in Canada, U.S.A.,Mexico, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Spain, France, Germany, Britain and Japan.
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