# Sandra Semchuk > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Sandra_Semchuk > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Sandra_Semchuk.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Semchuk > Source revision: 1339617043 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Canadian photographic artist}} {{Infobox artist | name = Sandra Semchuck | image = | imagesize = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = 1948 | birth_place = [Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan](/source/Meadow_Lake%2C_Saskatchewan), Canada | death_date = | death_place = | nationality = | field = [Photographer](/source/Photographer) | training = Bachelor of Fine Arts, [University of Saskatchewan](/source/University_of_Saskatchewan), Saskatchewan, 1970 Masters Degree in Photography, [University of New Mexico](/source/University_of_New_Mexico), 1983 | movement = | works = | patrons = | influenced by = | influenced = | awards = [Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts](/source/Governor_General's_Award_in_Visual_and_Media_Arts) (2018) | spouse = James Nicholas (d. 2007) }} '''Sandra Semchuk''' (born 1948) is a Canadian photographic artist.{{Cite web |url=https://www.gallery.ca/en/see/collections/artist.php?iartistid=24295 |title=Sandra Semchuk |website=[National Gallery of Canada](/source/National_Gallery_of_Canada) |access-date=2016-11-12 |archive-date=2016-11-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161112142221/https://www.gallery.ca/en/see/collections/artist.php?iartistid=24295 |url-status=live }} In addition to exhibiting across Canada and internationally, Semchuk taught at [Emily Carr University of Art and Design](/source/Emily_Carr_University_of_Art_and_Design) from 1987 to 2018.{{Cite book |last=Bassnett, Sarah; Parsons, Sarah |url=https://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/photography-in-canada-1839-1989/key-photographers/sandra-semchuk/ |title=Photography in Canada, 1839–1989: An Illustrated History |publisher=Art Canada Institute |year=2023 |isbn=978-1-4871-0309-5 |location=Toronto |language=English}} In 1998, [Presentation House](/source/Presentation_House_Gallery), [Vancouver, British Columbia](/source/Vancouver), programmed "How Far Back is Home ..." a 25-year retrospective of Semchuk's career highlighting her relationship to identity, morality and land.{{cite web|url=https://presentationhousegallery.org/exhibition/how-far-back-is-home-sandra-semchuk/|title=Sandra Semchuk: How far back is home… - Presentation House Gallery|access-date=2016-11-12|archive-date=2016-10-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019062620/https://presentationhousegallery.org/exhibition/how-far-back-is-home-sandra-semchuk/|url-status=live}} Sandra was awarded a grant from 2008 to 2015 from the Canada First World War Internment Fund to complete her book on [Ukrainians](/source/Ukrainians) in Canada, ''The Stories Were Not Told: Stories and Photographs from Canada's First Internment Camps, 1914-1920''.{{Cite web|url=https://www.internmentcanada.ca/grant-funded.cfm|title=Grants | Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund | 202-952 Main Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R2W 3P4 | Phone: 204-589-4282 | Toll Free: 1-866-288-7931|website=www.internmentcanada.ca|access-date=2021-09-25|archive-date=2021-03-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303210106/https://www.internmentcanada.ca/grant-funded.cfm|url-status=live}} == Career == Semchuk was raised in a close-knit Ukrainian-Canadian community, which greatly informed the theme of interconnected identity in her practice. Her work from the late 1970s involved dialogue and collaboration with her parents, partner, and young daughter. Semchuk's early photographic works have been said to belong to a "broad general category of documentary".Cousineau-Levine, Penny. Faking Death: Canadian Art Photography and the Canadian Imagination. Montreal: McGill-Queen's UP, 2003.DèsLibris Canadian Electronic Library. McGill-Queen's University Press, 1 June 2004. Web. 17 Sept. 2016. p. 65 Her photographic portrait works from this era, more specifically her 1982 series of eighty-seven photographs entitled ''Excerpts from a Diary,'' address themes of death and family Cousineau-Levine, Penny. Faking Death: Canadian Art Photography and the Canadian Imagination. Montreal: McGill-Queen's UP, 2003.DèsLibris Canadian Electronic Library. McGill-Queen's University Press, 1 June 2004. Web. 17 Sept. 2016. p.218 whilst presenting a narrative of "self-examination and transformation" through her use of self-portraits and images containing domestic and prairie backgrounds.Cousineau-Levine, Penny. Faking Death: Canadian Art Photography and the Canadian Imagination. Montreal: McGill-Queen's UP, 2003.DèsLibris Canadian Electronic Library. McGill-Queen's University Press, 1 June 2004. Web. 17 Sept. 2016. p. 220 [Penny Cousineau-Levine](/source/Penny_Cousineau-Levine), the author of ''Faking Death: Canadian Art Photography and the Canadian Imagination'', writes of ''Excerpts from a Diary'' that the journey of Semchuk's protagonist "follows the structure of classic initiatory voyages of descent and return, death and rebirth, the prototype of which is the Greek legend … of Orpheus, who, grief-stricken at the death of his wife, descends to the underworld to convince the god Pluto to allow her to return to earth."Cousineau-Levine, Penny. Faking Death: Canadian Art Photography and the Canadian Imagination. Montreal: McGill-Queen's UP, 2003.DèsLibris Canadian Electronic Library. McGill-Queen's University Press, 1 June 2004. Web. 17 Sept. 2016. p.223 Cousineau-Levine goes on to state that these photographic sequences "take the shape of heroic descent into darkness and peril, into an experience of death and nothingness followed by rebirth, a transformed relation to the self, and a renewed connection to life", something that she claims offers "an understanding of death that is particularly relevant to [Canadian photography](/source/Photography_in_Canada)." === Collaboration with James Nicholas === James Nicholas and Sandra Semchuk were married until Nicholas died suddenly and unexpectedly in 2007. Nicholas was a [Cree](/source/Cree) artist from [Nelson House, Manitoba](/source/Nelson_House%2C_Manitoba). He suffered extensively in residential schools as a child.{{cite web|url=https://unsettling2014.wordpress.com/2014/12/22/969/|title=Residential school trauma and healing: the art of James Nicholas & Sandra Semchuk|last=missnesbitt|date=22 December 2014|access-date=12 November 2016|archive-date=19 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019101119/https://unsettling2014.wordpress.com/2014/12/22/969/|url-status=live}} Their collaborative work focused on the multiplicity of relationships to land, cultural geography, settler and indigenous relationships and memory.Kunard, Andrea, and Carol Payne. The Cultural Work of Photography in Canada. Montreal: McGill-Queen's UP, 2011. Print. === Collaboration with Skeena Reece === In 2013, Sandra Semchuk worked with performance artist [Skeena Reece](/source/Skeena_Reece) on a piece titled ''Touch Me'' for the exhibition ''Witnesses: Art and Canada's Indian Residential Schools.'' During this performance, Reece and Semchuk struggle with themes of forgiveness and mother-daughter relationships as Reece bathes Semchuk.{{Cite journal|last=Dowell|first=Kristin|date=Spring 2017|title="Residential Schools and "Reconciliation" in the Media Art of Skeena Reece and Lisa Jackson"|journal=Studies in American Indian Literatures|volume=29|pages=116–138|doi=10.5250/studamerindilite.29.1.0116|s2cid=164907414}} == Education == * 1983 Master's degree in Photography, [University of New Mexico](/source/University_of_New_Mexico)Semchuk, Sandra. Coming to Death's Door: A Daughter/father Collaboration: October 19 to November 24, 1991, Presentation House Gallery. North Vancouver, BC: Gallery, 1992. Print. * 1970 Bachelor of Fine Arts, [University of Saskatchewan](/source/University_of_Saskatchewan), Saskatchewan * 1970 Professional "A" Teachers Certificate, [Province of Saskatchewan](/source/Saskatchewan) == Select solo exhibitions == Source:{{Cite web|url=http://art-history.concordia.ca/eea/artists/semchuk.html|title=Sandra Semchuk|website=art-history.concordia.ca|access-date=2016-11-12|archive-date=2008-03-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080329221727/http://art-history.concordia.ca/eea/artists/semchuk.html|url-status=live}} * 2016 ''The Stories Were Not Told'', Comox Valley Art Gallery, Courtenay, British Columbia{{Cite web|url=https://www.comoxvalleyartgallery.com/exhibitions/stories-not-told/|title=The Stories Were Not Told|access-date=2021-09-25|archive-date=2021-01-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118164541/https://www.comoxvalleyartgallery.com/exhibitions/stories-not-told/|url-status=live}} * 1998 ''How Far Back is Home . . . .'', Presentation House, Vancouver, British Columbia{{Cite web|url=https://thepolygon.ca/exhibition/sandra-semchuk-how-far-back-is-home/|title=Sandra Semchuk: How Far Back Is Home…|date=2011-01-19|website=The Polygon|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-03|archive-date=2020-03-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200303222257/https://thepolygon.ca/exhibition/sandra-semchuk-how-far-back-is-home/|url-status=live}} * 1991 ''Coming to Death's Door'', a daughter/ father collaboration, Presentation House, Vancouver, British Columbia * 1991 ''Moving Parallel: Reconstructed Performances from Daily Life'', Photographers Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; Prince George Art Gallery, Prince George, British Columbia; University of Waterloo Art Gallery, Waterloo, Ontario; [Robert McLaughlin Gallery](/source/Robert_McLaughlin_Gallery), Oshawa, Ontario; [Art Gallery of Windsor](/source/Art_Gallery_of_Windsor), Windsor, Ontario; [MacKenzie Art Gallery](/source/MacKenzie_Art_Gallery), Regina, Saskatchewan; Nickle Arts Museum, Calgary, Alberta; Floating Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba; Gallery 44, Toronto, Ontario * 1990 ''Paralleling the Bird'', Forest City Gallery, London, Ontario; [Contemporary Art Gallery](/source/Contemporary_Art_Gallery_(Vancouver)), Vancouver, British Columbia * 1986 ''Ritual, the Photographic Sequence'', Forest City Gallery, London, Ontario * 1986 The Coburg Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia * 1982 ''Excerpts from a Diary'', [Mendel Art Gallery](/source/Mendel_Art_Gallery), Saskatoon, Saskatchewan * 1979 The [Photographers Gallery](/source/The_Photographers'_Gallery), London, England * 1975 The Photographers Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan * 1973 The Photographers Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan == Awards == * [Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts](/source/Governor_General's_Award_in_Visual_and_Media_Arts) (2018){{cite web |title= Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts |url=https://en.ggarts.ca/the-awards/winner-archives |website=en.ggarts.ca |publisher=Governor General of Canada |access-date=2022-08-17}} == Collections == Source: * Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver * Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa * [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation](/source/Canadian_Broadcasting_Corporation), Regina * [Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography](/source/Canadian_Museum_of_Contemporary_Photography), Ottawa * [Dunlop Art Gallery](/source/Dunlop_Art_Gallery), Regina * [Edmonton Art Gallery](/source/Edmonton_Art_Gallery), Edmonton * [McKenzie Art Gallery](/source/MacKenzie_Art_Gallery), Edmonton * [Mendel Art Gallery](/source/Mendel_Art_Gallery), Saskatoon * Mount St. Vincent University of Art Gallery, Halifax * [Museum of Modern Art](/source/Museum_of_Modern_Art), New York * Photographers Gallery, Saskatoon * [San Francisco Museum of Modern Art](/source/San_Francisco_Museum_of_Modern_Art), San Francisco * University of New Mexico, Albuquerque == Publications == * Bassnett, Sarah; Parsons, Sarah. "Sandra Semchuk" in ''[https://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/photography-in-canada-1839-1989/key-photographers/sandra-semchuk/ Photography in Canada, 1839–1989: An Illustrated History].'' Toronto: Art Canada Institute, 2023. {{ISBN|978-1-4871-0309-5}} * Semchuk, Sandra. 2018. "The Stories Were Not Told: Canada's First World War Internment Camps." The University of Alberta Press. Print. * Semchuk, Sandra, and Laurel Tien. "Telling Story! Voice in Photography: An Online Visual Art Critical Studies Program Evaluation." International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning 5.3 (2004): n. pag.ProQuest Education Journals [ProQuest]. Web. 17 Sept. 2016. * Semchuk, Sandra. Toward Real Change: My Photographic Work Done in Saskatchewan from 1972 to 1982 and in New Mexico from 1982 to 1983. Diss. U of New Mexico, 1983. Albuquerque, New Mexico: U of New Mexico, 1983. Simon Fraser University Library Catalogue. Web. 17 Sept. 2016. * Semchuk, Sandra. 1991. Coming to Death's Door: A Daughter/Father Collaboration. North Vancouver: Presentation House Gallery, 1992. Print. * Semchuk, Sandra. 1989. Moving Parallel: Reconstructed Performances from Daily Life. Toronto: Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography, 1989. Print. ==References== {{Reflist}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Semchuk, Sandra}} Category:1948 births Category:Artists from Saskatchewan Category:Canadian photographers Category:Living people Category:People from Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan Category:Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts winners --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sandra Semchuk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Semchuk) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Semchuk?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.