katymcco

Katy McCormick Photography


Toronto, Canada
About

Katy McCormick is a photo-based artist working in Toronto. She studied Fine Arts with Harry Reese and Richard Ross at the University of California, Santa Barbara, majoring in printmaking, artists books, and photography, and graduated with a BFA in 1984. She obtained her MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1987, studying with Joyce Neimanas. In the 1990s, she photographed extensively in French gardens. Today, her work focuses on commemorative sites, revealing narratives and social histories embedded in landscapes. Nikkei Ground Zero: Revisiting American and Canadian Japanese Internment, begun Sept 2012 examines sites formerly used in the relocation and imprisonment of the Japanese Diaspora in WWII. Other works examine histories related to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Destinies Made Manifest: Reading the Washington Mall explores her American roots while probing the process of monument making and its role in the construction of historical narratives.

Areas of Expertise

McCormick is an artist, curator, and writer. Publications include Three (Great) Women, which examines Serena McCarroll’s ode to elderly artists working in Saskatchewan (Stride Gallery, 2013) and “Emergence/Legacies,” which explores mentoring young artists in Emergence: Contemporary Photography in Canada (Ryerson University and Gallery 44, 2009). In 2010, she curated Border Country: Melanie Friend and Lara Rosenoff, an exhibition exploring displacement from the perspective of various refugees.

Professional Affiliations

McCormick is Associate Professor in Photography Studies and the Program Director of the Documentary Media MFA Program at Ryerson University. She is a member of the Society for Photographic Education and Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography.

Books by Katy McCormick Photography