Different Perspectives are indeed apparent in the photography exhibit of that name running in the Salt Spring Public Library program room through the month of December.
Photographers John de Bruyn and Stephen Morris produce thought-provoking and evocative images, and common themes and overlapping subject matter are apparent in some of their photographs. Nevertheless, the two have very different styles, presenting viewers with an erudite photographic conversation between two good friends.
The two artists’ biographies share many similarities. De Bruyn and Morris both grew up in Vancouver and have been friends since the mid-1970s. Both had successful careers as university physics professors, teaching and doing experimental physics research. Both did scientific research on pattern formation and fluid flow — among other things — and used photographic techniques to document and analyze their experimental results. Both retired a few years ago and moved back to their roots on the west coast – de Bruyn to Salt Spring Island and Morris to Vancouver. Both share a photographic fascination with pattern, texture and form. From that starting point, however, the perspectives diverge.
De Bruyn has been a photographer of some sort for most of his life and joined the Salt Spring Photography Club soon after moving to the island in 2021. His photographic interests are broad, ranging from capturing fine details with extreme close-ups to photographing the night sky. His work has been exhibited at several venues on Salt Spring and his photographs are in private collections in Canada and the United States.
“Living on Salt Spring, one can’t help but be drawn to the natural beauty that surrounds us,” he says.
His nature photographs, however, tend to the minimalistic – often highlighting shapes or small details, often black-and-white, often forcing the viewer to extrapolate the context of the image.
Over the last two years, De Bruyn has been photographing address signs all over Salt Spring Island. This project, entitled “Island Living,” poses questions about housing and attitudes on our island. Among the works included in this exhibit are several collages made up of many individual images of address signs. Each image is interesting in its own right, and the resulting collages are provocative and amusing.
Morris’ photographs come from both the natural world and table-top laboratory experiments. Drawing on his scientific research, he is intrigued by systems that evolve spontaneously into strikingly regular shapes and textures as a result of dynamic processes such as growing, folding, cracking or branching. Each of his images shows an object or process, sometimes quite small and often quite familiar, with a self-composed regular structure. His photographs are informed by the scientific aesthetic of nonlinear physics, and, he says, “Mathematics lurk behind every image.” No special knowledge is required to appreciate the beauty of the results, however. He has exhibited his “scientific folk art” photographs in galleries and outdoor art shows in Toronto and Vancouver.
Morris is also a co-founder of the ArtSci Salon, an art/science crossover group sponsored by the Fields Institute for Mathematical Science in Toronto. The salon has hosted many “mixer” events at which artists and scientists meet and share their perspectives. Morris has collaborated with composers to create large-scale multimedia musical pieces. He regards his artistic endeavours as a natural extension of his scientific work on pattern formation, as part of the same story.
Different Perspectives: Photographs by John de Bruyn and Stephen Morris will be on display in the library’s program room from Dec. 2 through Dec. 29 during normal library hours (10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays). The public is invited to attend the opening reception on Tuesday, Dec. 3 from 6 to 8 p.m.
The photographers will also present a public talk about their work in the program room on Thursday, Dec. 5 at 3 p.m.