One of Canada’s earliest professional women photographers, Hannah Maynard (1834–1918) was acclaimed within her lifetime for her sophisticated use of experimental techniques, such as photomontage and multiple exposures. Throughout her career in Victoria, British Columbia, Maynard boldly referred to herself as a “photographic artist”—a title she used both to market her practice and to highlight the unique and groundbreaking technical quality of her work. At a time when few women were working professionally with cameras or in a studio, Maynard broke the mould with her business acumen and boundless creativity.

    Hannah Maynard’s photographic practice
    was all-consuming and seeped into almost every facet of her life: her professional livelihood; leisurely bike rides; cottage excursions with her family; her relationships with her husband, children, and grandchildren; and her sensibilities about life and death.
    It is unique to have such a full visual record
    of one’s life and community as we have with Hannah Maynard.

    – Nancy G. Campbell

    Shuvinai is an artist of superlative talent, her work characterized by full and elaborate depictions of the natural landscape and social networks of the North. Shuvinai Ashoona: Life & Work celebrates the influences of an artist whose rich graphic imagery conveys an intricate and textured interior world. Her distinctive style situates her in a category apart from other contemporary artists. Using pencil, pen and ink, and markers to render dense, highly imaginative representations of inner visions, transcendental projections, and the exterior world, her art reflects the intersection of values between the traditional North and the contemporary South.



    Copyright Information


    © 2017 Art Canada Institute.

    All rights reserved.

    ISBN 978-1-4871-0117-6

    Published in Canada

    Art Canada Institute

    Massey College, University of Toronto

    4 Devonshire Place, Toronto, ON M5S 2E1


    Banner Image: Shuvinai Ashoona, Creatures, 2015. Collection of Suzanne Lamarre. Courtesy of Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto. © Dorset Fine Arts, Toronto.

    About the Author:

    Nancy G. Campbell

    Nancy G. Campbell has been an independent curator of contemporary and Inuit art since 1993. She has worked for institutions including The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery in Toronto, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, and the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre at the University of Guelph. Campbell holds a master of arts from the University of British Columbia in art education and a doctorate from York University in art history. She is the author of Shuvinai Ashoona: Life & Work, published by the Art Canada Institute.

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