There’s a new exhibit at the Art House Cafe this August, and if you’ve ever felt an attachment to a building before, this one’s for you.
Art House owner Geneviève Bétournay is displaying 40 photographs that she took of buildings in the Booth Street Complex in June 2022 before they were torn down or altered.
Poster provided by Geneviève Bétournay.
The 2.6-hectare site was home to the federal Department of Mines (now Natural Resources Canada) and is now in the early stages of redevelopment into, according to the Canada Lands Company.
Most of these buildings have received federal heritage status and are also recognized for their cultural heritage value by the City of Ottawa.
“I wanted to capture the drive and excitement that was likely present throughout its construction, and the bustling essence of exploration that fuelled everything that took place on the site,” she writes via email. “In trying to achieve this, I ended up spending a lot of time with the structures that make up the complex; I studied their shapes and lines, and I got to know their features.”
I developed a relationship with these buildings, just as many others had, or will, at different points in time. I hoped that I could transfer a similar sense of connection through my photographs.
Bétournay also has a personal connection to the complex.
Her father spent the majority of his career with Natural Resources Canada, meaning he spent a lot of time in these buildings and knew intimately the discoveries that took place at the site, she says.
She dedicates this exhibit to him and hopes to convey this sense of intimacy within her photos.
“In the end, I also hope that these photographs instigate in viewers a curiosity and desire to know more—be it about the history and the achievements that took place at the site, about the striking industrial architecture, or about heritage conservation and how it is incorporated into modern urban development,” she writes. “I hope that viewers are led to consider the different experiences and perspectives of people and how they would relate to these buildings in the past, present and future.”
Formative Years: A Photographic Study of the Booth Street Complex is on at the Art House Cafe from Aug. 1-31. There will be a vernissage on Aug. 7 from 7-10pm that is open and free to the public.
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