Evans fellowship winner
Concordia student Jacynthe Carrier is the recipient of the 2011 Dick and Gretchen Evans Fellowship. The innovative photographer and filmmaker is the second recipient of the three-year fellowship launched in June 2010.
Each of the three fellowships of $17,000 is awarded to an outstanding photography student in her or his final year of the university’s Master of Fine Arts in Studio Arts program.
“What a nice surprise,” says Carrier. “The fellowship has given me the financial means to realize ideas that I didn’t think I would be able to do for many years.”
Carrier uses photographs and video to explore the relationships between the human body and the environment. Her work over the past few years has focused particularly on the way people occupy and thereby alter spaces.
“Now I can afford to buy the equipment I really want, maybe hire assistants for some projects, and pay for the props and models that I need for my work,” she says.
Her photography has been featured at the Québec Triennial in Montreal, as well as the Circa and the VU contemporary art galleries in the city. Her videos have been broadcast in France, Brazil and the United States.
Born in Lévis, Que., Carrier splits her time between Quebec City and Montreal. Earlier this year, she received the Prix à la création artistique du Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec at the 29th edition of the Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois for her film À l'errance.
At Concordia, she has primarily focused on photography. “I feel really lucky to have learned from some incredibly talented and skilled teachers, photo technicians and artists at the university,” she says.
Carrier likewise appreciates having the chance at Concordia to get to know not only some of Montreal’s English-speaking community but artists from across Canada and elsewhere.
“Being in contact with various communities helps me to examine and determine my own identity in the world, which I think enriches my art,” she explains.
The Dick and Gretchen Evans Fellowship is the result of the couple’s gift of $51,000 to finance the annual $17,000 fellowship over a three-year period.
Dick Evans, the former chief executive of Rio Tinto Alcan, and his wife, Gretchen, have generously donated time and money to support a number of educational institutions. “The fellowship is a tangible example of our commitment to education and the arts,” he says. “We are not only investing in a university and its promising students, but endeavouring to make a positive impact on artists, the local economy and the wider community.”
To supplement the fellowship, he is also donating half the profits from In Transit Images, an electronic gallery that he recently created with founding partner and photographer Bob Hendriks, to promote the work of established and emerging photographers.
“Dick and Gretchen Evans’s support is a strong vote of confidence in both our photography students and Concordia’s Faculty of Fine Arts,” says Catherine Wild, dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts. “Their contribution underscores their conviction in the calibre of our students and strengthens Concordia’s ability to attract world-class artists and scholars.”
Related links:
• Benefactors announce Dick and Gretchen Evans Fellowship
• First recipient of Dick and Gretchen Evans Fellowship
• Faculty of Fine Arts
• MFA in Studio Arts
• In Transit Images
• Jacynthe Carrier – VU Photo