Thaddeus Holownia: The Terra Nova Suite opens this week with public reception

The Rooms today announced that Thaddeus Holownia: The Terra Nova Suite will open Friday, September 29, with a public reception taking place at The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery, Level 4 at 8:00 p.m. The exhibit is a major survey of work examining 25 years (1981-2006) of photographs captured during Holownia�s repeated and extended visits to Newfoundland and Labrador.

"This exhibit is the result of three years work on part of the gallery to develop a major exhibition of this significant Canadian photographer," said Shauna McCabe, director of The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery. "In many ways �Terra Nova,� is both discovered and revealed as a �new land� in Holownia�s panoramic images. We are very pleased to have Thaddeus here this week for the opening of this exhibition that offers such a fascinating lens on the province and its changing landscapes."

During the past 25 years, Thaddeus Holownia has made repeated and extended visits to Newfoundland and Labrador. Throughout these journeys, Holownia�s signature medium, the banquet camera, has been used to document the changing landscape � from ferry�s berth in Argentia, through Gros Morne�s Trout River Gulch and the nickel cores of Labrador�s Voisey�s Bay, to the urban and industrial harbour of St. John�s. The accompanying exhibition catalogue Thaddeus Holownia: The Terra Nova Suite features selections from Giller Prize nominee Lisa Moore and was designed by Bob Tombs.

Holownia�s imagery of Newfoundland and Labrador has also been presented in his publication Arborealis, which, in July 2006, captured an excellence award in design and printing in the book category by Applied Arts Magazine. Arborealis also features a suite of 30 poems by Peter Sanger who drew upon his own experience of living, working and travelling in Newfoundland, particularly on the Northern Peninsula � in response to Holownia�s images.

Currently head of the Department of Fine Arts at Mount Allison University, Holownia�s work has been celebrated nationally and internationally, appearing at the Centro de la Imagen (Mexico City), the McCord Museum (Montreal), the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto), the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography and many others. He is the recipient of grants and awards from the Canadian Council for the Arts, the American Institute for Graphic Arts, the Ontario Arts Council etc., and in 2001 he was awarded the Fulbright Fellowship by the Fulbright Foundation of Washington, D.C., and in 2003 received the Strathbutler Award from the Sheila Hugh McKay Foundation of Rothesay, New Brunswick. A full biography is available at www.holownia.com. The exhibition is curated by Bruce Johnson and runs until January 7, 2007.

NOTE TO EDITORS:

Media contact: Deanne Hayward, Communications (709) 757-8070, 691-5681

2006 09 28                                         2:20 p.m.