The earth, solar system and cosmos are all suffused with time. It is deeply woven into our civilizations’ socio-cultural, mythological and economic existence. Although my work makes use of “clock time,” it also embraces an alternate view where it becomes something that is folded, stretched, pulled and slowed, allowing the viewer space to think about metaphysical experience. It also opens a window for contemplation about photography, its history, ontology and possibilities.
My ongoing project called Out of Time, presents time as an axis upon which experiences of space, light, death, memory and history intersect. While my work is a personal meditation upon external phenomena and internal human experience, it is equally a reflection into photographic history and knowledge. My interest in the photographic reaches from materially present analogue processes to the alleged “dematerialized” nature of the digital.
Colwyn Griffith’s photography and videos have been exhibited both nationally and internationally, including: Mitaka Centre for the Arts in Tokyo, the Jersey City Museum U.S.A, and the Ottawa Art Gallery. In addition to receiving, generous support from the Canada Council for the Arts and Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, he has participated in artist residencies in New York City and Quebec. His work has appeared in various publications and figures in public and private collections. Two catalogues about his work have been published: Empire Projects by the Southern Alberta Art Gallery and Something About Time by the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery. Born in Ottawa and raised in Aylmer Quebec, Griffith holds a BA in Film Studies from Carleton University and an MFA in Visual Arts from York University in Toronto. He currently lives in Wakefield Quebec and teaches the History and Theory of Photography at the School of Photographic Arts (SPAO) in Ottawa.