Vantage Point: Portholes #10

April Hickox
2009
Chromogenic print

 Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery Collection.
© April Hickox. Photo: April Hickox.

Portholes #10 is part of a series of images artist April Hickox photographed while aboard a ship sailing the St. Lawrence River from Îles de la Madeleine to the Port of Montreal. She uses the porthole as a frame, mimicking the lens of a camera. The thickness of the glass and weathering from salt water provides a slight softness and allows for a variation of colours and markings on the image. This reminds us of being aboard a moving vessel, and invites us to think about the indefinite nature of the subject. Taken at dawn, the images in the series capture the city before it awakes.

Discussion: Consider how the subject may look different if the photograph was taken on the deck of the ship, or on solid ground. How might this change your viewing of it?

Activity: Take a photo of a subject that is outside through a window or door and then another photograph of the same subject while you are outdoors. How do the photographs differ? What changes about the way you see the subject between photographs?