The still-life images by American artist Buck Ellison selected for presentation on four billboards in Toronto relate to the four seasons, with each composition considering the way garments and fabrics wield wealth and power and play an important role in shaping global histories.

Originally, the length of the images corresponded to the length of the day in each season, with Untitled (Winter) being considerably shorter than Untitled (Summer). For this unique iteration, the images have been resized to fit the standard billboard format. Exemplifying Ellison’s exploration of textiles and power, Untitled (Spring) incorporates items related to the care of garments, such as wool dryer balls and dry cleaning receipts, alongside tartan private-school uniforms, a colonial legacy of the British Empire that has infiltrated former colonies. Untitled (Winter) incorporates an image of John Singleton Copley’s painting titled A Boy with a Flying Squirrel (Henry Pelham); the flying squirrel was a common symbol of refinement in the period. During this time, silk was a great luxury, and this fabric was significant in expressing the social standing of the sitter. As such, great care was placed in the depiction of this fabric in the painting. Ellison incorporates tulip petals to mirror the silk in the photograph, to emphasize its importance.

As in his portraiture, Ellison’s still lifes contain objects that are laden with societal codes and continue his investigation into how Whiteness, wealth, and their attendant privileges are maintained and propagated.

Part of a multi-city installation on billboards in Toronto and Vancouver.

Presented by CONTACT Photography Festival in partnership with Capture Photography Festival. Supported by Pattison Outdoor Advertising

Curated by Emmy Lee Wall

• Buck Ellison (b. 1987, San Francisco) lives and works in Los Angeles. His work is in the permanent collections of the Aïshti Foundation, Beirut; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York and has been profiled in ArtForum, The New Yorker, and the New York Times.

• Emmy Lee Wall is currently Executive Director and Chief Curator of Capture Photography Festival and prior to that worked at the Vancouver Art Gallery for more than a decade where she worked on numerous historical and contemporary exhibitions. Her curatorial practice has a particular focus on art in public spaces and she has worked on public art projects with a diverse range of local and international artists including Vikky Alexander, Elisabeth Belliveau, Douglas Coupland, Sara Cwynar, Moyra Davey, Christopher Lacroix, Michael Lin, Anique Jordan, Meryl McMaster, Krystle Coughlin Silverfox, Steven Shearer, Shellie Zhang, and Elizabeth Zvonar.