SilverFish Photography Collective

Dates: September 5 - October 24, 2025

AFTERIMAGE marks the 20th anniversary of the inception of the SilverFish Photography Collective. Though members have changed over the years, Karen Ruet and Burton Glendenning remain as founding members preserving the collective memory of this particular school of fish. Their progress has been chronicled in 30 exhibits shown throughout New Brunswick: in Fredericton, Saint John, Florenceville, St. Andrews, McAdam, Sussex, Grand Manan, and in Victoria-by-the- Sea, Prince Edward Island. This group has made several stops at the UNB Art Centre during this time with Strictly Whatever (2002), Required Reading (2005), Neurotica (2009), Archipelago (2013), and One Moment (2015). Each exhibit is made entirely unique by a changing membership, and by a self-conscious approach to exhibition. Though works are individually realized, each exhibit presents a collective musing on a specific technique, problem or theme. SilverFish is above all else, a group of photographers versed in the practise and history of photography. They consciously push the technology, constantly experiment with form, and consistently strive to render visible a world within a world. While it is highly unusual for an art collective to remain organized and focused for any length of time, SilverFish’s longevity is a testament to their structural integrity and the group’s overall vision. The UNB Art Centre is honoured to present AFTERIMAGE, a special 20th anniversary exhibition.

Photographers are pre-occupied with seeing and the direct relationship between the eye, the camera, and the image. The camera is a prosthesis, enhancing the eye’s finite capabilities, able to capture one moment in a string of many. The idea for this 20th anniversary exhibition began with an exploration of the notion of 20/20 vision and the hope of exhibiting in the year 2020. Of course, COVID-19 put a stop to public presentations and performances along with our daily face-to-face interactions. Over that year, this idea of perfect vision morphed and shifted to become instead a study of the perceptual reality of the optical field through the phenomenon of afterimage. Afterimage is a specific term referring to the residual image that occurs when the photoreceptors in the eye are over stimulated. This optical illusion is usually brought about by staring at an image, then looking away, yet it can also occur as a result of palinopsia, brought on by an injury to the eye or a range of neural pathologies. In AFTERIMAGE, SilverFish expands this definition to include not only the ephemeral ocular residue commonly understood as afterimage, but also more metaphorical optical distortions resulting from memory, technological enhancement, and the action of time.

Lori Quick and Rob Blanchard render visible their struggle with neurological and optical dysfunction. Their world is constricted and distorted, without focus or clarity. For Lori Quick, light sensitivity brought about by a severe concussion prevented her from seeing anything but the vaguest shadows. In these images we see the unreliability of solid objects, as forms dissolve and replicate, becoming more or less opaque and translucent as light creates a shadow play. While removed from the world of stimulus and recovering in a post-concussive liminal state, Lori Quick finds herself in a world of afterimages.

Rob Blanchard’s perceptions on the other hand, have been permanently altered by a direct blow to the eye. His images replicate his world as it recedes into darkness. For him, there is nothing after the image.

Roger Smith and Peter Gross use optical aids to distort reality and sharpen focus, showing us something we would never be able to see with the naked eye. Roger Smith has made an intensive study of macrophotography to focus on the tiny fleeting worlds that have captivated him for decades. Here he uses image after image in a process called focus-stacking, to create these impossibly sharp pictures of dewdrops which themselves become lenses with which to view the tiny upside-down worlds contained therein.

Peter Gross takes this in another direction, looking outward rather than inward to a wider world. Shooting through a glass sphere, he attempts to re-envision how the eye perceives raw data before the image is processed in the brain. Rather than striving to achieve maximum definition on a flat plane, he explores the way the sphere bends the image, both sharpening and distorting it.

Jeff Crawford and Burton Glendenning ponder existential phenomenon by evoking the passage of time. Jeff Crawford captures both presence and absence in his study of lit matches. The spark which ignites the flame is implied as is the breath which subsequently extinguishes it. The momentary wisp of smoke is all that remains, the afterimage of a brief but intense chemical reaction.

Burton Glendenning takes a pastoral approach, observing the seasons in his apple orchard. Expressing the cycle of life, the fruit tree lies dormant, then stirs into flower, then fruit and finally harvest. Seeing a series of images of the same lone tree, from the exact same angle at different times, allows us to mentally superimpose one image over the other to understand the tree more completely as it manifests its various forms.

Denise Rowe focuses on memory and an image of what was, a life and a time before. For Denise Rowe, photographs of a man who lost his battle with cancer capture the memories of the living. Layers of mylar applied to their surface reference the action of time obscuring the details as memory fades away. For her, the image that is left is a pale version of the real thing.

Similarly, Mandy Wright draws her inspiration from memory but reflects upon the power of dreams and the liminal time between sleeping and waking. She explores the barrier between what is in the mind and what exists in reality to manifest and express a fugue state. More recently, experimenting with holographic images and Augmented Reality, she takes the idea of the dream to a new level of visibility, presenting images in three-dimensional space, confusing our perception of reality.

Oliver Flecknell, Mike Meade and Peter Bjerkelund bring the focus back to the material world. In this series Oliver Flecknell creates images that feature the eyes of children who literally look ahead to an uncertain future rather than look back with regret and nostalgia. Mixing photographic media like cyanotype and silver gelatin print with spray paint on a textured substrate accentuates the materiality of these images, while the use of collage juxtaposes images and shapes and directs the viewer toward a particularly bleak view of the future.

For Peter Bjerkelund, meaning is ascribed after the image is shot, printed and completed. Moved initially by what he happens upon, his intent is to capture the moment with his camera as it is apprehended by the mind’s eye. The viewer brings with them their own impressions and connections to create an individualized experience which may or may not be in synch with that of the photographer.

Mike Meade too invites the viewer to find meaning in the images once they have been framed. For him, the visible world has two levels, the physical reality which is immediate and often overlooked, as well as the metaphysical world which is more elusive. The sensory input requires an active freeing of the mind in order to create patterns and associations and ultimately find meaning.

Each of the 12 photographers in this exhibit has struggled with the literal and figurative meaning of AFTERIMAGE and interpreted it in a dozen different ways to produce this latest collective body of work. Despite the lingering presence of COVID-19, the UNB Art Centre remains cautiously optimistic and opens its doors to celebrate 20 years of exploration and discovery by SilverFish, New Brunswick’s only photography collective.

Marie E. Maltais, Director, UNB Art Centre

SilverFish History

In the mid to late 1990s, a group of students enrolled in the Photography program at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design were excited by the history of photography, photography as a fine art, and about such historic photography collectives as F64. Many in this group were older, bringing dedication, talent, and life experience to the classes.

Between 1998 and 2000, the members of this group graduated. While some were fortunate enough to find work in creative environments, others were not. Feeling a creative void, the group got together to discuss what was missing, how to practice their craft, and how to find peer support for the discussion of ideas. The idea of forming a photography collective was born.

During the summer, a number of meetings took place and discussions gradually advanced to a more intellectual look at photography. By the end of the year there was a group of eight individuals committed to photography as a fine art in a collective environment. Each had different styles and philosophies but there were lots of great ideas, though a bit chaotic and disorganized. These differences caused some members to become impatient at times but reinforced the importance of open debate and honest criticism. Emerging from these discussions, the group discovered individual talents for leadership and creativity as well as experience in curating and technical expertise.

Early in 2001, the group adopted the name SilverFish–with all its photographic implications. The first show took form and opened in a temporary storefront gallery in June, less than a year after the idea for a photography collective emerged. The original members were Andrea Crabbe, Burton Glendenning, Cathy McKelvey, Chris Giles, Karen Ruet, Kelly LeBlanc, Rachel Brodie, and Vicki Kramer.

Exhibition #1, Still Life, became a reality in a vacant downtown store front. The space was renovated and painted by members, in what was truly a collective effort. Stretching the concept of “still life”, the exhibition accentuated independent conceptions and differing styles. To operate the gallery, each member worked at the gallery for a few hours each week. The show was a critical success. This small group of unknown fine art photographers had an opening with over 100 visitors. In the month of July, approximately 800 people visited the gallery. Brief reviews were published in the art sections of provincial newspapers.

Changes in membership continued as SilverFish moved to other waters and other pursuits and new Fish joined the school, refreshing the collective perspective. Many successful shows have ensued to great acclaim. Of particular note are: Neurotica (2009) and One Moment (2015) at the UNB Art Centre; Unavailable Light (2009) and One (2011) at Government House, both of which were invited to tour.

Currently only one of the original eight remain in the collective, Burton Glendenning. SilverFish now has 12 members including Roger Smith who joined in 2001, Peter Bjerkelund and Mike Meade who joined in 2002, Lori Quick who joined in 2005 and Mandy Wright in 2006, Oliver Flecknell and Peter Gross in 2008, and most recently Rob Blanchard, Jeff Crawford, and Denise Rowe who joined in 2011.

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