Karina Kraenzle | Déjà vu

In her series, Déjà vu, artist Karina Kraenzle reorganizes found photographic images of the body and classical sculpture to create new forms in three-dimensional space. Using various collage strategies, the source imagery is employed both as historical artifact as well as the building material for “sculpting” new images – repositioned for contemporary ends.

The resulting works play with light, shadow, and texture in a reimagined landscape. The elegant and layered compositions suggest glimpses of familiar forms, while their positioning evokes a vaguely unsettling atmosphere. Together, they invite us to consider how objects become images – and images once again become objects – while playfully exploring the spaces in between.

Recipient of the 2023 Project X Photography award, Karina Kraenzle has conducted her artistic practice in Ottawa since 1995. Over the years, she has combined multiple media with original and found photography, producing bodies of work in series as well as in site-specific installations. An ongoing subject in Kraenzle’s work is photography itself - its special relationship to time, memory, and the uncanny - as well as its unique capacity to contain certain fictions and uncertain truths.

Her work has been exhibited both locally and nationally, including at Toronto Image Works, Galerie Jean-Claude Bergeron, Cube Gallery, Shenkman Centre for the Arts, Galerie L’Imagier, John B. Aird Gallery, and CONTACT Photography Festival.

Curator: Meghan Ho
French Translation: Marie-Camille Lalande
Installation: Dan Austin, Jennifer Gilliland

The Project X Award recognizes the merits of a publicly presented photographic project by an artist who demonstrates an ongoing connection to Ottawa. The award recipient is selected by a jury of arts, photography, and media experts and is presented by the Ottawa Arts Council, SPAO, and the Ottawa Art Gallery, with supporting sponsor DAÏMÔN.

The works in this exhibition were first shown alongside the works of fellow artists Cindy Stelmackowich and Andrew Morrow, as part of the exhibition Stacks and Queues at City Hall Art Gallery in 2022.

Image: Karina Kraenzle, Halcyon #1, 2019, archival Inkjet Print, edition 3/5, courtesy of the artist.