Gather Grasping

Jackson Klie

February 10 – April 6, 2024

Essay by: Megan Kammerer

Gather Grasping is a photographic installation that considers how collections of image-objects reflect a desire towards gathering and intimacy. Using the Toronto Reference Library Picture Collection as a research site, Jackson Klie worked to document the spectrum of surface damage, such as tears, fingerprints, and fading that occurs to photographic objects after a history of human touch. The work expands upon the generative potential of photographic and archival errors to position images as fragile, porous, and queer objects.

Artist Bio:

Jackson Klie is an image-based artist living in Ontario, Canada. He holds an MFA in Studio Art from the University of Guelph and a BFA in Photography Studies from Toronto Metropolitan University. Recent exhibitions have been presented at Xpace Cultural Centre, Gallery 44, and multiple Featured Exhibitions in the Contact Photography Festival. He was longlisted for the New Generation Photography Award in 2018 and 2023.

Image ID:

A photograph obscured by moire patterns that contains multiple hands grasping a printed photographic snapshot.

All photo documentation by Em Moor