EXPOSITION | "Grands Lacs – L’horizon commun des mers intérieures", Robert Burley

Centre culturel canadien à Paris

Through an unprecedented body of work devoted to the Great Lakes basin, Canadian photographer Robert Burley explores this immense territory, at once a border, a place of life, a space of exchange and a zone of vulnerability. Opening on June 6, 2026, as part of Nuit Blanche Straddling the border between Canada and the United States, making it disappear within its colossal fluid mass, the Great Lakes basin brings together along its shores millions of inhabitants, among them Indigenous peoples from numerous First Nations and tribes. An extraordinary resource of surface drinking water (among the most significant in the world); a place of circulation and exchange, of commerce, of work, of leisure, of travel, of meditation, but also of exploitation, of danger, of vulnerability; this immense basin has been observed from the diversity of its shores by Robert Burley, one of the most important Canadian photographers of our time. Here the artist creates a body of work that is both unprecedented and exceptional, in which the grandiose beauty of this elusive whole, at times soothing, at times unsettling, is transformed into a reflection on the power of the contemporary image. Stripped of any anecdotal distraction, restoring the Great Lakes to their original grandeur, Robert Burley's photographs call to the viewer like enchanting sirens. In partnership with Biinaagami, Swim Drink Fish and Canadian Geographic This project is labeled Bicentenaire de la Photographie by the ministère de la Culture and is part of the official programming of the Bicentenaire du 1er septembre 2026 au 30 septembre 2027. Curator: Catherine Bédard

Source: Paris Open Data ↗