{"id":275952,"date":"2026-05-01T17:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T22:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/chronique\/tete-a-tete-with-suzy-lake\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T07:39:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T12:39:57","slug":"tete-a-tete-with-suzy-lake","status":"publish","type":"chronique","link":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/columns\/tete-a-tete-with-suzy-lake\/","title":{"rendered":"T\u00eate \u00e0 t\u00eate with Suzy Lake"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
For many art historians of my generation, Suzy Lake has been a beacon. She has shaped how we think about photography, staging, performance, gender, embodiment, and the politics of representation. To map the questions that \u00adtraverse her practice is, in many ways, to trace the preoccupations in contemporary art over the past six decades. Throughout, she has worked with equal measures of rigour and irony, \u00adtechnical mastery and conceptual precision. What \u00adfollows is drawn from three rich hours of conversation, during which Suzy and I revisited key moments of her practice, from her Montr\u00e9al years (1968\u201378) to more recent series in which she pushes against the limits of representation.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
In our initial exchanges, I mentioned to Suzy that I wanted to draw attention to some of her newer work, which I had the thrill of seeing at an exhibition at Bradley Ertaskiran last year. This came as a sort of relief to her, not because the work produced in the 1970s had lost any of its sharpness but because she had a sense that it had been thoroughly covered by critics and theorists. Her arrival in Montr\u00e9al -seemed to have happened at the \u201cperfect moment,\u201d she said, \u201camid reductive minimalism, pop influences from graphic culture, and the broader student movement,\u201d when \u201cartists were asking how to engage politically through their work and respond to what was happening in the streets.\u201d She continued, \u201cI wanted [my work] to address a broader audience because social change affects everyone. Montr\u00e9al in the 1970s felt magical. We truly believed we were building something new.\u201d I couldn\u2019t resist a few initial questions on that era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daniel Fiset:<\/strong> Is that magical spirit what led to the creation of artist-run centres such as V\u00e9hicule Art?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Suzy Lake :<\/strong>  Yes. Graff was already well established when I arrived, and many artists were connected through its production facilities. I was involved in the founding of V\u00e9hicule\u200a\u2014\u200awe were a collective of twelve, and the \u00adexperience varied for each of us. Some members were teaching; others had families. We attempted to rotate responsibilities and govern ourselves collectively, though the structure constantly evolved. What stands out most is how hungry we were for experimentation. There was little hierarchy among established and emerging artists, and dialogue flowed freely. I have never experienced that level of plurality anywhere else. We wanted to show work that couldn\u2019t be shown elsewhere\u200a\u2014\u200aeven work considered financial suicide. In many ways, I miss that spirit of risk today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\"Suzy
Suzy Lake<\/strong>
On Stage<\/em>, 1972\u201375, installation view, Bradley Ertaskiran, Montr\u00e9al, 2025. 
Photo: Jean-Michael Seminaro, courtesy of the artist & Bradley Ertaskiran, Montr\u00e9al<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m probably speaking from a relatively privileged position. I was an expat with a background in political activism. I used to frequent the Swiss Hut, which was a gathering place for many artists. People were fascinated by my stories from Detroit\u200a\u2014\u200afor example, that the Weathermen had once been on my roof during the riots. I was learning French and many of them were eager to practise their English, so there was a reciprocal curiosity. You have to remember, there was no internet. We wrote letters to invite artists from Saskatoon, Vancouver, New York\u200a\u2014\u200aplaces artists wouldn\u2019t necessarily travel from on their own. Sometimes they paid their own way and stayed in our homes simply to participate in the dialogue. The programming was adventurous\u200a\u2014\u200asometimes downright wild\u200a\u2014\u200aand that energy mattered more than linguistic divisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DF:<\/strong> Did you begin with performance because it was already present in Montr\u00e9al, or was it more in-
stinctive\u200a\u2014\u200aa desire to use your body as a tool? Artist narratives often emphasize formal training, yet so much learning happens elsewhere. And how did photography enter your practice?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SL:<\/strong>  Starting to perform was largely instinctive. My closest preparation was studying ballet jazz and taking movement classes. I understood my body spatially, and that awareness translated naturally into performative experiences. I wasn\u2019t staging theatrical gestures; I was investigating form, perception, and embodiment. When the exhibition When Attitudes Become Form<\/em> (1969; curated by Harald Szeemann) appeared, it wasn\u2019t necessarily my answer, but it encouraged a break from traditional materials. I had been rigorously trained, but suddenly those skills weren\u2019t useful in the expected ways. Instead, the theory behind them expanded through conversations with Montr\u00e9al\u2019s reductive minimalists. I could see formalism moving through gestalt toward interactive relationships between audience and artwork. Duration became central\u200a\u2014\u200asomething rarely addressed in traditional formalist teaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Suzy
Suzy Lake<\/strong>
Rhythm of a True Space #1<\/em>, 1996\u201308, installation view, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 2008. 
Photo: courtesy of the artist & Bradley Ertaskiran, Montr\u00e9al<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
I started photographing because I noticed a rupture between the live experience and its documentation. Since I was both performer and subject, I could see the gap clearly. That realization pushed me to ask how I could record the experience so that more of it remains available. Movement, duration, and the perception of time have remained central to my work ever since. I also consider the audience\u2019s movement in relation to the body. How do you communicate something that people may not yet be ready to hear? I trust perceptual elements to operate even if viewers cannot immediately name them. The work orchestrates those elements so audiences can identify with the image intuitively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DF:<\/strong> I\u2019m curious about your early series\u200a\u2014\u200aMiss Chatelaine <\/em>(1973), for \u00adinstance. Those works clearly reference women\u2019s \u00admagazines. What did it feel like to step into that space of representation and enact it for the camera? And how did you choose your locations? Many images feel grounded in the city\u200a\u2014\u200aa woman moving through urban space rather than confined to the photo studio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SL:<\/strong> I can\u2019t point to a single moment when the idea emerged. It developed gradually from the frustration of growing up with prescribed models of femininity\u200a\u2014\u200athis is who you should be\u200a\u2014\u200aat a time when young women were diverging from those expectations yet still felt social pressure to conform. Mimicking fashion magazines became a playful strategy. A friend who had been a model was organizing a group of non-\u00adtraditional models, and although I moved in and out of that circle, it likely prompted me to gather friends and start photographing. The images were intentionally non-professional\u200a\u2014\u200aamateur photographs of something that appeared professional\u200a\u2014\u200aallowing the slippage itself to function as critique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My studio was at the corner of Craig and Gosford, near Old Montr\u00e9al. Many photographs were taken outdoors simply because I stepped outside and started shooting. I rarely asked permission; I photographed until someone told me to stop. There\u2019s a memorable story from the Bank of Montreal. While I was posing with a cigar, a uniformed guard approached us. My friend began packing up the camera, assuming we were about to be expelled. Instead, the guard pulled out a lighter and lit my cigar. My friend quickly unpacked the camera to capture the moment\u200a\u2014\u200athe image is slightly out of focus, but I couldn\u2019t exclude it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\"Suzy
Suza Lake<\/strong>
The Extended Good-bye #2<\/em>, 2008-09. 
Photo: courtesy of the artist & Bradley Ertaskiran, Montr\u00e9al<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
DF:<\/strong>  I\u2019m dying to know more about Suzy Spice. How did that persona develop?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SL:<\/strong> It sprang up quickly, around the same time as Peonies and the Lido<\/em> (2001\u201302). After completing the Re-Reading Recovery<\/em> series (1994\u201399), I wanted to return to the body in a simpler way. As a mature woman, I couldn\u2019t perform physically demanding gestures the way I once had. Mid-career can be unsettling\u200a\u2014\u200ayou become aware of younger generations entering with new aesthetics. For women especially, there\u2019s often a cultural message: you\u2019ve had your time; now you\u2019re old. I watched actresses who had once been celebrated for their talent forced to perform exaggerated femininity\u200a\u2014\u200aalmost caricatures\u200a\u2014\u200ato sustain their careers. It was horrifying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I felt a bit of a disconnect between women\u2019s growing professional presence and this persistent ageism\u200a\u2014\u200awhat I call \u201cthe ghost of the crone.\u201d I felt I had nothing to lose by addressing the ageing body directly. Suzy Spice<\/em> (1999\u20132001) began as a fundraiser for YYZ Gallery. Five of us\u200a\u2014\u200amy daughter choreographed the performance\u200a\u2014\u200alip-synced Spice Girls songs. What fascinated me was that the audience largely overlooked our age. The energy in the room was incredible. It functioned almost like a live-action meme. The work also allowed me to explore ageing beauty and to expose the absurd expectation that women must perform youth to remain visible. Isn\u2019t it ridiculous that society expects women to dress like cougars in order to do what they\u2019re already good at? I used popular culture deliberately\u200a\u2014\u200aeven producing memorabilia-like objects. My sister might never hang my artwork, but she would hang something like this if it resembled a poster of her favourite rock star.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Suzy
Suzy Lake<\/strong>
Forever Young<\/em>, 2000, installation view, Bradley Ertaskiran, Montr\u00e9al, 2025. 
Photo: William Sabourin, courtesy of the artist & Bradley Ertaskiran, Montr\u00e9al<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
DF:<\/strong> Did the readings of your work change over time rather than the work itself? Has the shift been primarily in how audiences engage with it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SL:<\/strong> Yes, I think so. About a decade later, ageing began to be discussed more openly. Older women started to be publicly acknowledged for their expertise\u200a\u2014\u200abecoming directors, leaders, decision makers. Ageing came to be associated with maturity, which is a positive shift. After the sweeping works, which were about starting over, I began working on Suzy Spice <\/em>and Peonies and the Lido <\/em>almost simultaneously. Luchino Visconti\u2019s Death in Venice<\/em> (1971) remains one of my favorite films. It\u2019s slow, poetic\u200a\u2014\u200aessentially a long slide dissolve\u200a\u2014\u200aand extraordinarily written. For a man to construct the central character in a way that resonates so deeply with women\u2019s experiences is remarkable. I\u2019m always impressed when male writers achieve that level of insight. Think of Molly Bloom\u2019s monologue in Samuel Beckett\u2019s Ulysses<\/em>\u200a (1922)\u2014\u200ait captures physical existence with astonishing intimacy. In Death in Venice<\/em>, the narrative moves from book to film: written by a man, portraying what is often understood as a woman\u2019s struggle, and performed by a male actor. I decided to approach it in drag\u200a\u2014\u200ato become Dirk Bogarde as a woman\u200a\u2014\u200aand explore that inversion. Whether viewers recognize that decision isn\u2019t important. What mattered was that I understood it while making the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, Suzy Spice <\/em>prompted a renewed critique of consumer and youth culture. Forever Young<\/em> (2000) opened another possibility: if bodily modifications\u200a\u2014\u200atattoos, piercings, cosmetic -procedures\u200a\u2014\u200aare simply trends, what if I proposed facial hair as the next desirable beauty fad for women? Having once worked in advertising, I knew how aggressively those industries shaped representations of women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\"Suzy
Suzy Lake<\/strong>
Pluck<\/em>, 2001.
Photo: courtesy of the artist & Bradley Ertaskiran, Montr\u00e9al<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
DF:<\/strong> Which led to Beauty at a Proper Distance<\/em> (2001\u201302)\u200a\u2014\u200athe triptych of lips with facial hair. Again, distance determines perception; the viewer\u2019s position is integral to the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SL:<\/strong> I wanted the image to function on two levels. From afar, it resembles a perfume advertisement. Up close, the viewer notices oily skin and facial hair\u200a\u2014\u200athe construct becomes visible. And scale matters. In photography, bigger is often assumed to be better, but painters never thought that way; scale was simply part of the composition. That piece became my first light box because the format amplified its connection to consumer culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DF:<\/strong> Light boxes remain important in later works such as Extended Breathing <\/em>(2008\u201314). The installation was striking, with the works generating their own illumination in a darkened space. Hearing you describe the process of performing almost makes it sound like yoga\u200a\u2014\u200arepeating gestures until you understand how they live in your body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\"Suzy
Suzy Lake<\/strong>
Extended Breathing at Night<\/em>, 2008-09, from the series Extended Breathing<\/em>, 2008-14, installation view, Bradley Ertaskiran, 2025.
Photo: William Sabourin, courtesy of the artist & Bradley Ertaskiran, Montr\u00e9al<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Suzy
Suzy Lake<\/strong>
Extended Breathing Amidst the Foliage<\/em>, 2009-10, from the series Extended Breathing<\/em>, 2008-14, installation view, Bradley Ertaskiran, 2025.
Photo: William Sabourin, courtesy of the artist & Bradley Ertaskiran, Montr\u00e9al<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Suzy
Suzy Lake<\/strong>
Extended Breathing in the Bush<\/em>, 2009-10, from the series Extended Breathing<\/em>, 2008-14, installation view, Bradley Ertaskiran, 2025.
Photo: William Sabourin, courtesy of the artist & Bradley Ertaskiran, Montr\u00e9al<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
SL:<\/strong>  I use light boxes for different reasons\u200a\u2014\u200aprimarily to intensify colour through overexposure. The images become more painterly. Later, I performed related works publicly. One piece at the Detroit Institute of Arts involved holding a pose for an hour. My legs would lock. I probably accelerated my arthritis. At first it was difficult, but eventually it became almost pleasurable\u200a\u2014\u200aa gift of time. You could feel time passing without needing to fill it. The intention wasn\u2019t endurance; it was to celebrate something simple: breathing. I hadn\u2019t anticipated that the work would also evoke mortality. The feet feel anchored, suggesting permanence, while the dissolving figure reminds us of our fragility. Forever and disappearance coexist in the same image. I photographed at night using mixed lighting to facilitate long exposures and introduce painterly colour shifts. That\u2019s why the light boxes are essential; prints alone can\u2019t produce the same effect. Though I discarded many attempts\u200a\u2014\u200amosquito-filled nights were impossible\u200a\u2014\u200asuccessful images encouraged me to push further. I began to feel like a painter returning to the same still life repeatedly, refining it each time. Despite Molinari drilling colour theory into me, I sometimes felt like a physics professor calculating light. Cameras aren\u2019t designed for hour-long exposures, so I had to master filtration and technical adjustments. When you finally solve those problems, it feels as though you\u2019ve invented the light bulb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":275892,"template":"","categories":[887,883],"numeros":[8014],"disciplines":[],"statuts":[],"checklist":[],"auteurs":[917],"artistes":[5734],"thematiques":[],"type_chronique":[511,511],"class_list":["post-275952","chronique","type-chronique","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-column","category-interviews","numeros-117-crip","auteurs-daniel-fiset-en","artistes-suzy-lake-en","type_chronique-tete-a-tete-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chronique\/275952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chronique"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chronique"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275952"},{"taxonomy":"numeros","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/numeros?post=275952"},{"taxonomy":"disciplines","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/disciplines?post=275952"},{"taxonomy":"statuts","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/statuts?post=275952"},{"taxonomy":"checklist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/checklist?post=275952"},{"taxonomy":"auteurs","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/auteurs?post=275952"},{"taxonomy":"artistes","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artistes?post=275952"},{"taxonomy":"thematiques","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thematiques?post=275952"},{"taxonomy":"type_chronique","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/type_chronique?post=275952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}