Orest Semchishen

Orest Semchishen (born 1932) is a Canadian photographer whose prints of Alberta document and evoke specific places and people in subjects such as rural communities, ethnic groups and prairie farms and collectively give a sense of Canada. The stark images reveal an economic disparity that scarcely resembles official photographs of the country. In the early 1970s, after he had retired from a career as a radiologist he decided to take extension classes at the University of Alberta and become a photographer. Concerned about the abandonment of rural Byzantine rite churches, he systematically recorded them using a view camera along with disappearing Albertan localities as they were 40 years ago (these black-and-white works date from 1973 to 1986). In 1992, his work was exhibited in Presence of the Prairie at the Edmonton Art Gallery. His many group exhibitions include two at the National Film Board (1975 and 1983) and one at the National Gallery of Canada. the National Gallery of Canada; the Alberta Foundation for the Arts; Art Gallery of Alberta, The Bohdan Medwidsky Ukrainian Folklore Archives, University of Alberta; the Glenbow Museum; Winnipeg Art Gallery; the Provincial Archives of Alberta; and the Remai Modern in Saskatoon, among others.