Suburban Landscapes

Suburban Landscapes: Hubert Hohn. An exhibition of suburban and residential areas in Edmonton, taken during 1975 and 1976.

Suburban Landscapes was presented at the Secession Gallery. An exhibition of photographs of suburban and residential areas in Edmonton taken during 1975 and 1976 by Hubert Hohn while working on a National Museum project grant "Portrait of a Province."

Although the subject matter was one of the most familiar of all environments in North America, the familiarity was dispelled in the fresh and very natural studies. Here, the suburbs were not the usual target of belittling social commentary. Shot casually with a hand held camera at midday when they ate most quiet, the suburbs are transformed into tranquil and evocative studies of a kind of "landscape" environment. The photographs were painterly, often filled with well or not so well groomed lawns and bushes. They resembled landscape paintings, particularly those of the impressionists, which was similarly detached from subject. These photographs presented an environment known to many but truly observed by few.