Germaine Koh
Sightings

1992-98, offset postcards printed from
found snapshots
4 x 6" each, editions of 2500
Courtesy Catriona Jeffries Gallery, Vancouver

Sightings is a series of postcards commercially printed from snapshots I have found in public places. Each is precisely captioned with the date, site and circumstances of the find, any identifying marks, and my address. Melding the functions of snapshots and postcards as means for commemorating and communicating individual experience, they suggest that both are nevertheless conventional collective forms. Located in communal territory and recognizable firstly as generic types, the images appear as archival specimens garnered from a public domain. Yet they do also map the actual passage of specific people through particular times and spaces, and circulate back into this realm as records of this process. The project came to a close when for the first time one of the people depicted was located.

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bio:
Germaine Koh is a Canadian visual artist and independent curator whose work is concerned with the significance of everyday actions, familiar objects and common places. Her 2003 schedule includes Artspace (Sydney), the Frankfurter Kunstverein, FADs (Tokyo), and the Western Front (Vancouver). She has been included in international exhibitions such as the Biennale of Sydney and La Biennale de Montréal, and featured recently at institutions such as The British Museum (London), the Power Plant (Toronto), Plug In ICA (Winnipeg), the Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver), La Torre de los Vientos (Mexico City), Ex Teresa Arte Actual (Mexico City), the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto), and Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions.

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Germaine Koh

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