# Blake Fitzpatrick > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Blake_Fitzpatrick > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Blake_Fitzpatrick.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blake_Fitzpatrick > Source revision: 1342994406 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **Blake Fitzpatrick** FRSC is a photographer, curator and writer, who is concerned with the photographic representation of the nuclear era, contemporary militarism and the [Berlin Wall](/source/Berlin_Wall) as a mobile ruin. ## Early years Blake Fitzpatrick was born in 1955 in Oshawa, Ontario.[1] His earliest artistic influences came just after high school in the mid-1970s when he discovered *The Americans* by Swiss photographer [Robert Frank](/source/Robert_Frank). As a result, Fitzpatrick developed an interest in photography, which took him to [Ryerson Polytechnical Institute](/source/Ryerson_Polytechnical_Institute) in Toronto, for his B.A.A.. Later, he discovered the work of the artist, theorist and teacher [Allan Sekula](/source/Allan_Sekula), author of the seminal essay "On the Invention of Photographic Meaning," and studied with him at [Ohio State University](/source/Ohio_State_University). He graduated in 1984 with a MFA, then got his PhD, from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, [University of Toronto](/source/University_of_Toronto).[2] ## Career Fitzpatrick made a long-term study of the history and effects of the uranium-processing industry on the town of [Port Hope, Ontario](/source/Port_Hope,_Ontario), where he and his family were living. To describe what happened to this town, Fitzpatrick created an installation entitled *Uranium Landscapes*, first seen in an exhibition in Toronto in 1995.[3][4] Starting in 2019, he created a documentary titled *Future Mound* through photography, video and writing, based on the development of the Port Hope Long-Term waste Management Facility, an above-ground storage mound for radioactive waste – due to radium and uranium refining – deposited throughout Port Hope. It is the most expensive municipal cleanup in Canadian history with a budget of $1.28 billion in federal funding.[5][6] In 2008, Fitzpatrick had an exhibition of his recent work at the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington, curated by Maralynne Cherry. In 2014, *Freedom Rocks: The Everyday Life of the Berlin Wall*, a long-term collaborative project that he produced with artist and Ryerson colleague Vid Ingelevics was exhibited at the [Goethe-Institut](/source/Goethe-Institut) in Los Angeles and was published in photography journals.[7] The exhibition travelled widely and in different versions appeared elsewhere.[8] Fitzpatrick is a member of the Atomic Photographers Guild, an international collective of more than 20 photographers committed to documenting the on-going nuclear activity of the post "mushroom cloud" atomic era.[9][7][10] He has curated or co-curated shows of contemporary artists who responded to zones of conflict and include *War at a Distance: Visual Culture and the Framing of Public Conversations about Canadian Forces in Afghanistan*;[11] *Disaster Topographics*;[12] and *The Atomic Photographers Guild: Visibility and Invisibility in the Nuclear Era* (2001).[13] In 2013, he co-curated an exhibition of the work of [Arthur S. Goss](/source/Arthur_S._Goss), titled *Arthur S. Goss: Works and Days* for the Ryerson Image Centre.[14] Fitzpatrick's writing and visual work have appeared in numerous journals and in edited collections including *The Cultural Work of Photography in Canada* (McGill-Queen's University Press (MQUP), 2011), *Camera Atomica* ([Art Gallery of Ontario](/source/Art_Gallery_of_Ontario), 2015) and *Through Post-Atomic Eyes* (MQUP, 2020). He is co-editor of *Critical Distance in Documentary Media* ([Palgrave Macmillan](/source/Palgrave_Macmillan) 2018) and contributed a chapter on the aerial image in contemporary documentary art for the volume.[15] In 2020, with R. D. Tredici, he wrote *Port Hope in the Era of Nuclear Waste* which was published in C. Lauzon and [John O'Brian](/source/John_O'Brian) (eds.), *Through Post-Atomic Eyes* (Montreal: MQUP). Fitzpatrick has held a number of senior academic positions including the position of Dean, School of Design and Communication Arts at Durham College, Oshawa as well as Dean, Faculty of Art, at the [Ontario College of Art and Design](/source/OCAD).[16][5] He is presently a professor in the School of Image Arts, Ryerson University, Toronto and served as its chair[7] as well as being co-director of the Documentary Media Research Centre.[17] In 2020, he was elected to the [Royal Society of Canada](/source/Royal_Society_of_Canada).[18] ## References 1. ["Blake Fitzpatrick"](https://www.gallery.ca/collection/artist/blake-fitzpatrick). *www.gallery.ca*. National Gallery of Canada. Retrieved 2021-08-25. 1. Ingelevics, Vid. ["Blake Fitzpatrick: Teach, Learn & Warn"](https://www.ocadu.ca/Assets/documents/SKETCH-fall2004.pdf). *www.ocadu.ca*. OCAD, Sketch 2004. Retrieved 2021-08-26. 1. ["Blake Fitzpatrick – Radioactive History of Port Hope: Voices of Camera Atomica (3)"](https://ago.ca/media/1704). *ago.ca*. Art Gallery of Ontario. Retrieved 2021-08-25. 1. Langford, Martha (2010). *"A Short History of Photography, 1900-2000". The Visual Arts in Canada: the Twentieth Century*. Don Mills, Ont.: Oxford University Press. p. 307. ISBN 978-0-19-542125-5. [OCLC 432401392](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/432401392) 1. ["Future Mound"](https://www.ryerson.ca/the-creative-school/research-innovation/rubix-2020/faculty-index/blake-fitzpatrick/). *www.ryerson.ca*. Ryerson University, Toronto. Retrieved 2021-08-25. 1. ["Port Hope project new long term waste management facility"](https://www.phai.ca/en/home/port-hope-project/new-long-term-wase-management-facility.aspx). *www.phai.ca*. Port Hope, Ontario. Retrieved 2021-08-26.[dead link] 1. ["Blake Fitzpatrick"](https://www.ryerson.ca/documentarymedia/faculty/Blake_Fitzpatrick). *www.ryerson.ca*. Ryerson University, Toronto. Retrieved 2021-08-25. 1. ["Freedom Rocks"](https://www.freedomrocks.ca/works.php?esec=1). *www.freedomrocks.ca*. Ryerson University, Toronto. Retrieved 2021-08-26. 1. ["Members"](https://atomicphotographersguild.org/photographers/blake-fitzpatrick/). *atomicphotographersguild.org*. Atomic Photographers Guild. Retrieved 21 January 2024. 1. ["Atomic Photographers Guild"](https://atomicphotographersguild.org/). Retrieved 2023-08-11. 1. ["War at a Distance"](https://e-artexte.ca/id/eprint/31792). *e-artexte.ca*. e-artexte. Retrieved 2021-08-26. 1. Miao, Scarlett. ["Disaster Topographics Critical Analysis"](https://www.academia.edu/16900648). *www.academia.edu*. academia. Retrieved 2021-08-26. 1. [*The Atomic Photographers Guild : Visibility and Invisibility in the Nuclear Era*](https://e-artexte.ca/id/eprint/14418). artexte. 2001. ISBN 9781894653039. Retrieved 2021-08-26. 1. ["Arthur S. Goss: Works and Days"](https://ryersonimagecentre.ca/exhibition/arthur-s-goss-works-and-days). *ryersonimagecentre.ca*. Ryerson Image Centre. Retrieved 2021-08-26. 1. ["Blake Fitzpatrick"](https://www.ryerson.ca/image-arts/about/faculty/blake-fitzpatrick/). *www.ryerson.ca*. Ryerson University, Toronto. Retrieved 2021-08-25. 1. ["Blake Fitzpatrick"](https://opengovca.com/ontario-employee/FITZPATRICK,_BLAKE?employer=Ontario+College+of+Art+and+Design). *opengovca.com*. open government. Retrieved 2021-08-26. 1. ["Blake Fitzpatrick"](https://www.ryerson.ca/fcad/rubix2020/faculty-index/blake-fitzpatrick). *www.ryerson.ca*. Ryerson University, Toronto. Retrieved 2021-08-25. 1. ["Blake Fitzpatrick elected to the Royal Society of Canada"](https://www.ryerson.ca/news-events/news/2020/09/blake-fitzpatrick-elected-to-the-royal-society-of-canada). *ryerson.ca*. Ryerson University, Toronto. Retrieved 2021-08-26. ## Bibliography - Del Tredici, Robert (1987). *At Work in the Fields of the Bomb*. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre. [OCLC 16129563](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/16129563) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Blake Fitzpatrick](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blake_Fitzpatrick) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blake_Fitzpatrick?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.