In Weird Scenes From The Diamond Mine photographer Gary Castle exhibits new altered photographic work that explores his lockdown environment. See Weird Scenes From The Diamond Mine in the Corridor September 3 – 29. Can’t make it to the Corridor in person? Check out the video tour of the exhibition on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Q_yQUkRGXn4.

Of the process, Castle writes:
 At the mercy of the dreaded virus and the lockdown of almost everything, including this twice cancelled exhibit, has redirected the images I had intended for my original show. With the aid of a ninety-nine dollar cell phone camera and its few manipulations, I began exploring my lockdown space of isolation. The early morning sun’s reflections and shadows created a microcosm of possible creations. Textures and patterns on carpet and furniture fabrics, ceramic ornaments, walls, stains at the bottom of coffee cups, pieces of left over food and so on. Whatever sparked anything that resembled a final image I could visualize became part of what is on the walls here.

Gary Castle has been a professional photographer/artist since 1968. Graduating with a diploma in Photographic Theory in 1967, he began his photographic career at Dalhousie University as a bio-medical photographer at the Biology/Oceanography Department/ School of Dentistry and Life Sciences, Audio Visual Center. In 1981 he left Dalhousie to open his own custom photo-service lab. He has had numerous one-man shows of his photographic images and his photos have been published extensively in journals and books. His painting/ photo collage works have been included in many group exhibits and, along with his photographs, are in the permanent collections of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the Art Bank of Nova Scotia, the Public Archives of Nova Scotia as well as private collections. Since 1999 he has freelanced mainly in photo book illustration and concentrates on photo collage work, painting and video documentaries. At present, Castle is working on a one-month show for October 2024 titled Evolution, The Last Picture Show.

Located inside the Visual Arts Nova Scotia office at the Halifax Seaport since 2000, the Corridor Gallery is complemented by simple yet modern architectural elements and an array of current cultural activity in the Cultural Federations of Nova Scotia office. The Corridor Gallery is located at 1113 Marginal Road, Kjipuktuk/ Halifax, NS, situated on unceded Mi’kmaq territory.

The VANS office will be open by appointment only during this exhibition, so we recommend calling or emailing before you arrive to ensure that the Corridor is staffed. All visitors to the office must wear a mask, practice distancing, and sanitize hands upon arrival. In consideration of the size of the office and the Corridor Gallery, only two visitors are permitted at a time.

Visual Arts Nova Scotia advances the visual arts through leadership, education, and communication.

High resolution image for press available via Dropbox. See more of Gary Castle’s work on his Artist Page and his website garycastleart.ca.

For further information or to make an appointment to view the exhibition please contact:
Carri MacKay
Programming Coordinator, Visual Arts Nova Scotia
communicate@visualarts.ns.ca | www.visualarts.ns.ca