Linda-Marlena Ross
Linda-Marlena Ross went back to school at age 63 to study photography, graduating, her BFA conferred with distinction, from Concordia University in 2008. Her images of the Built Environment and how it impacts our environment has been a strong thread in her socially engaged projects. Exhibited in USA, France and Canada; her work has been published in photo journals Prefix Photo (Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art, Toronto); Ciel Variable, Montréal; solo exhibitions at La Maison de l’Architecture du Québec, ‘La Beauté Sauvage des Chantiers de Montréal’ ; Maison du développement durable, ‘Sous la peau de la ville’ Montreal; The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, ‘Beauty, Complexity and Chaos, a new Milestone for Montreal,’ and work installed in The Art and Heritage Collection of McGill University Health Centre, Montréal; A recipient of the research and creation award, given by the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec, CALQ. Recent exhibitions include Brooklyn, NY and the Gardiner Museum, Toronto.
Artist Statement
Tension, between nature and urban development is a recurring theme in my work. These vernacular photographs explore our social amnesia, challenging biodiversity and the complex relationship cities play. My narrative is in response to urban habitat, marginalization of nature, and the disruption of biodiversity. I have re-contextualized urban billboards within the Built Environment, never intended as art.
Filling our urban skyline, they are used for commercial advertising, not as vehicles for discussing the Sixth Mass Extinction or Covid-19. I have re-purposed billboards for art and the language of nature, examining climate crisis and loss of nature. These fictional manipulated billboards stress this tension between nature and urban habitat. The global impact of Covid-19, has created a shift where face-masks, Purell, and ventilators are now the world’s most coveted commodity. Our actions have consequences. We must co-exist with nature now.
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