Watercolour in the Rain
Port Saint John Gallery | January 14 – March 11, 2022
Artist Statement
Natural and urban settings inspire much of my image making where I attempt to explore the interaction between light and shadow performing in graceful harmony. This led me to create the collection “Watercolour in the rain”, and it expresses the inspiration I get from creating graphic photographs through the reflective colours rainy weather can display.
Many photographers do not feel at ease photographing in inclement weather. Yet, I find shooting in rain generates a dramatic mood and inspires a meditative state, making photographs in the rain pleasant and unpredictable.
For the “Watercolour in the rain” project, I invested countless hours contemplating how to photograph my interpretation of the peaceful and magical side of the rainy climate, using bold contrasting light and dark colours to evoke a tranquil state of calm within the chaos of rainy and windy weather.
My work unites the tension between tranquility and turmoil, movement and immobility, realism and abstraction. I appreciate depicting complex and layered images that mutually disclose yet hide the labels of what is being photographed. The images I see and capture are short-lived, then the wind speed shifts, the water stirs and the image becomes something never to be witnessed again.
Reflections from inclement weather led me to connect with the theme and capture fragments of reality that we often overlook, inducing a mood and a sense of wonder that is nurtured by my attraction to impressionistic art.
The camera is my instrument. Although there are several ways to create impressionistic images, my preferred approach is to produce my images through multiple exposures and camera movement.
Day-to-day routines can become a distraction from our appreciation of our world, therefore visually communicating the beauty that surrounds us is an essential element of my photography, even if what I visualize as beautiful or intriguing is not always in turn felt by the viewer.
Through my art, I seek to share moods and nurture connections. Through these connections, I desire to allow the viewer to pause and provide an instant of calm, mystery, inspiration, or insight.
About the Photography of Maurice Henri
His mission, through his exhibitions and presentations, is to bring together the hearts and minds of people viewing his work and for them to seek knowledge, values, self-affirmation, and understanding. He hopes the experience in attending his exhibits will nurture a more reflective state, a capacity for deeper inquiry, and a heightened appreciation for others.
His images are about his passions: the people, places, and the paths that touch his soul. He enjoys portraiture, street photography, landscape, abstract, and architecture as well as everything that captures his eye. He strives to unite mood, emotion, and light, believing that these elements must fuse to convey the meaning of the photograph.
His camera is his voice and he truly treasures when he sees in his subjects’ eyes what they are on the inside. If this is not captured, the result will be short of emotion and the outcome will appear staged and lack authenticity. It is about emotion; the simple need to foster a relationship with his subjects and with his viewers.
Artist Biography
Without his knowledge, Maurice Henri’s father entered him in a photography competition hosted by the Montreal newspaper “La Presse” in 1977, and he won first prize. From then on, he began to take a serious interest in photography.
Maurice Henri is an internationally known photographer and has been creating portrait, stock, advertising, commercial, and fine art photography professionally since 1988. He has also participated in many photographic projects, as host & producer of a television series FOTO that aired nationally and received many nominations for excellence in education and arts, he is the founder and director of Cameras for Healing and he is the founder and director of Photo Moncton International Photography Festival and Co-Founder of FOTOgrafia Dosquebrados Photography Festival in Colombia, South America.
His work has been featured nationally and internationally in magazines, books, and during interviews. His clients include advertising agencies, design studios, independent industry professionals, art directors, art buyers, businesses of all varieties, private and corporate buyers, and collectors internationally.
Since 1992, his works have been seen in several solo and group exhibitions, in various cultural centers and art galleries, in addition, some of his works are part of a permanent collection to the African American Museum and Center for Education and Applied Arts in New York.
In 2004, he founded ArtQuest Photo Tours and Workshops where it organizes various workshops and tours in many locations worldwide.
He is also the recipient of The Order of Moncton, the Rotary International’s Paul Harris Fellowship Award, and the YMCA’s Peace Medallion, in recognition of his efforts.
