Zachary Ayotte’s work considers bodies and their ability to contain complex and conflicting histories, both personal and social. Grounded in the body's relationship to uncertainty, his work reveals a pervading tension between the mutable aspects of individuals and their environment. Through careful attention to light and form, his images exist in a place between imagined and perceived realities.
In 2012, he self-published At the Same Time with five other artists in Canada and the United Kingdom. He has had solo exhibitions at Latitude 53 and SNAP-Society of Northern Alberta Print Artists in Edmonton, AB, as well as a duo exhibition with Nulle Part at the Art Gallery of Alberta.
He lives in Edmonton, AB.
Statement
I am interested in how we engage with bodies across space. Drawing on the idea of the asymptote (two lines that approach each other but never touch), my work considers the intimate distance that persists between two points. Working with photographic processes, I hope to draw a distinction between certainty and visual simplicity. Just as running a hand over something can communicate roughness, hardness and temperature, letting the eyes move over an image can offer similar visual information. I use lighting and composition to balance intimacy and mystery, with the goal of asking sight to function as a form of touch. By balancing the invitation and necessity of looking with limited visual information, I am working to hold the viewer in a place of uncertainty.
CV
Studio, inquiries, commissions: please contact info@zacharyayotte.com