A self-taught artist from Christopher Lake hopes her latest work, which relies on geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing techniques, can change the way people view plants and animals.
Ellie Desgranges, a professional photographer and a member of The Northern Image Photographers Club in Prince Albert, said she was intrigued with photography when she moved from Montreal to the West. She was also fascinated with western plants and wildlife, and that got her thinking about how psychology, ethics, and social justice apply to the natural sciences.
“I know how the forest works,” she said. “I have worked in the field for about seven years and so I have seen how plants grow. I have seen how the acoustic system changes how the components work together, so that’s my inspiration. I wanted to show how each of those components are related to one another because that’s what an ecosystem is, ecological components tied together.”
Desgranges’ work is already getting noticed locally. She won awards at the Prince Albert Winter Festival and said becoming a photographer helped transform how she views both art and nature.
Meditation also helps a lot. She said focusing on the mind helps clarify what’s important.
She said her goal is to help people see animals and plants as individuals.
“I want to eventually show and get people to question how they treat animals’ comfort, and then show them that they’re treating them fairly poorly in comparison to how you would treat a person,” she explained. “You don’t treat an animal, the same way you would treat a person. lf you treat a person the same way you treat an animal, nobody will be friends with you.”
Although her current exhibition focuses on photography and mapping, Desgranges got her start in the world of music.
“I have always done art,” she said. “I used to draw when I was younger, and I’m from an artistic family. I have a cousin who is a singer, an uncle who could play any instrument, so I started as a snare drummer. I did that for about 15 years and then I just kind of got tired of music and switched to photography.”
Desgranges is one of several photographers whose work is on display at the Northern Image Photographers annual show in Prince Albert. The show runs from Sept. 1-23 at the John V. Hicks Gallery in the Margo Fournier Arts Centre.
