Balade en forêt

Balade en forêt

Paul Lewis invites us on a walk through the urban forests of various cities—both local and international—forests that are not natural in the conventional sense. At times, the trees serve merely as elements of the scenery; while some manage to blend in, they often appear incongruous.

Paul Lewis has been practicing photography since his teenage years, having discovered its appeal and its power to shape his view of the world. With a background in urban geography and urban planning, his photography bears the imprint of these disciplines. It draws upon—and extends and enriches—his experience as an urban planning professor (at the Université de Montréal), allowing him to explore the city’s multifaceted meanings in depth, using methods distinct from those of an academic. His photography is not documentary in nature: while the subject matter remains the same, the perspective adopted is no longer that of a researcher or professor. In recent years, he has held three solo exhibitions in Montreal, Saint-Mathieu-du-Parc, and Candiac. He also presented a duo exhibition at the National Assembly in Quebec City, where his photographs were accompanied by haikus written by author Suzanne Giguère. Elliot Erwitt states that "photography is an art of observation. It is about finding something interesting in an ordinary place." These nondescript, often anonymous locations are found everywhere in cities. They lie at the heart of the photographs Paul Lewis is presenting at the Musée Beaulne.