Geography Lesson: Canadian Notes

Description:

Geography Lesson: Canadian Notes was an extension of Allan Sekula’s interest in the political geography of the United States.

Sekula’s first Geography Lesson meditated on the American military presence on the border between west and east Germany. In the iteration Canadian Notes, Sekula juxtaposed photographs of Arthur Erickson’s design for a remodelled Bank of Canada in Ottawa—which included an atrium garden enclosing a museum of money—with photographs of Sudbury, Ontario, a city at the centre of the global nickel mining industry.

The exhibition included seventy-nine photographs in black and white, each paired with captions. The images and texts came together to represent the complex and ambivalent relationship between Canada and the United States. 

As part of the exhibition, Sekula presented an artist talk at the Vancouver Art Gallery on May 3, 1989. 

Presented in partnership with the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art, and in conjunction with Mayworks Festival of Culture and Working Life.