tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51893132230171053372024-03-19T00:27:01.995-07:00Impala Image Works PublishingGet a closer look at the publications created by Impala Image WorksUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5189313223017105337.post-4766334267752800852009-11-30T15:16:00.000-08:002009-12-08T13:52:45.664-08:00The Men of Iron Fish<div style="text-align: left;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This book is a companion piece to a photographic essay exhibited at the Elgin County Museum in conjunction with the show: Life and Leisure on Lake Erie (May 31, to September 1, 2009). The images, one painting and 14 colour and black & white photographs were created by Jan Row. The descriptive text and the poem <em><u>Waiting for the Engine to Cool</u> </em>is by Michael Wilson. This material was brought together to document in some small way, the commercial fishing industry on Lake Erie. </span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Copies of the book can be purchased on-line through Lulu.com at:</span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-men-of-iron-fish/4869659"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-men-of-iron-fish/4869659</span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and at the Elgin County Museum:</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpR88Df-0MLpQ0vUulq4R-GQebeegYBvSbRdDZz0VscEm-GB9EdA7LIEYmidzg5blJVNatoncp1gdSxyxOGJZSiDkySMExZc91gNiDDaGVgp5Bww3F0kYsepmZiM76BLRjftHBvgVQDJE/s1600/Untitled-1+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpR88Df-0MLpQ0vUulq4R-GQebeegYBvSbRdDZz0VscEm-GB9EdA7LIEYmidzg5blJVNatoncp1gdSxyxOGJZSiDkySMExZc91gNiDDaGVgp5Bww3F0kYsepmZiM76BLRjftHBvgVQDJE/s320/Untitled-1+copy.jpg" yr="true" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.elgincounty.ca/ElginCounty/CulturalServices/Museum/default.php"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> http://www.elgincounty.ca/ElginCounty/CulturalServices/Museum/default.php</span></a><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><u>Artist's Statement</u></strong><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The photographs in this exhibit are a selection from a body of images that document the work many men in our society do. Their work is grossly undervalued even though it is essential to the structure of our lives. When something is undervalued, the people associated with it can become marginalized and lose their voice in society. With this loss comes misunderstanding and alienation. The men who have allowed me access to their working lives have recognized my work as one way to illustrate the dignity and integrity of the best part of their lives. It is a way for them to share their own humanness with a society that rarely considers them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because I have come to know the men I photograph, I have experienced a shift in perspective. What I originally thought of as work that was miserable, dirty, alien, I now frequently see as beautiful in a classical sense. The economy of motion these men embody after a lifetime of doing specific, repetitive jobs under adverse conditions results in physical forms and poses that one can readily find in a sculpture garden or on a gallery wall. I attempt to express this beauty in my photographs because it is unexpected and leaves the viewer surprised. In that moment of surprise lies a shift in perspective and the potential for one to think differently, more receptively toward a subject previously thought alien. I am not presuming to tell the stories of my photographic subjects. I am suggesting that the viewers of my work have nothing to fear by letting the men tell their own stories. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This book also serves, in a small manner, to document a way of life that some consider to be under threat. As so many traditional industries and occupations are, the Lake Erie commercial fishery is struggling to cope with the pressures of a rapidly changing modern world. My hope is, that no matter what comes, the beauty and the value of the work these men do will not be forgotten.</span><br />
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<div align="center"><strong><u><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dedication</span></u></strong><br />
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</div><div align="left"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The images in this collection were taken aboard the Lake Erie commercial fishing tug “Iron Fish”, on two separate occasions. I will always look back on those days with amazement that I was lucky enough to be asked along and with deep gratitude for the experience. </span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And so:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to the lake – thank you for being calm (“flat as piss on a platter”, she was), so I could keep my feet under me to make the shots, </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to Gus (you are missed, friend), Bud, Boomer, Harold and Daniel – thank you for your patience while you managed to go ahead with your work as I scrambled around under-foot all day,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and to Mike – thank you – you made it happen.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jan Row</span><br />
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