Art Talks: Ema Peter in Conversation with Alison Powell

Recorded on May 3, 2023.
Join West Vancouver Art Museum assistant curator Alison Powell and architectural photojournalist Ema Peter to discuss Peter’s life, work, and her current exhibition, The Decisive Moment: Ema Peter, showing at the museum from April 12 to June 3, 2023. This exhibition is also part of the 2023 Capture Photography Festival Selected Exhibition Program.
Architectural photojournalist Ema Peter has documented some of the most significant contemporary buildings in West Vancouver, the Lower Mainland, and around the globe for the past 15 years, garnering awards for her images and collaborating with top local and international architects. Born in Bulgaria, Peter spent much of her youth on set with her father who worked as a cameraman for major Bulgarian film productions. Interested in documenting life as it happens she became a presenter for Bulgarian TV, eventually leaving Bulgaria to pursue an internship in photojournalism at the Magnum photo agency in Paris. Peter’s love of modern architecture was ignited by her visits to the Corbusier Villa La Roche building. Inspired by its clean lines and Corbusier’s visionary thinking, she drew from her training in photojournalism to document the architectural world around her.
This exhibition features architecture at the forefront of West Coast Modernism in West Vancouver and coastal British Columbia, with selected images of her renowned international projects. The images illustrate Peter’s unique ability to catch fleeting moments: figures moving through space, a cloud tracing the sky, or a rare quality of light.
Ema Peter holds a Master of Art and Applied Photography degree from the National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria (2000). Principal of Ema Peter Photography, she has worked with some of the most prestigious architectural, interior design, and engineering firms in North America. Her images have been featured in publications such as Architectural Digest, Elle Decor, Wallpaper, Dwell, Wired, and The New York Times.
Ema Peter has received numerous awards, including the 2018 Canadian Architect Inaugural Photo award of excellence, the 2022 Dezeen Architectural Photograph of the Year Public Vote, Architizer’s 2022 award for Architecture + Photography + Video, and the 2020 and 2022 Createur Design Best Photography Awards. She currently lives in North Vancouver and works locally and internationally.
Alison Powell attained a Master of Art History, Museum Studies degree from the City College of New York, CUNY (2020), and a Bachelor of Art History and Visual Art from Concordia University in Montreal (2016). While in Montreal, she worked with internationally renowned artists to exhibit their works at the Art Souterrain 2016 public art festival. She currently works as the assistant curator at the West Vancouver Art Museum where she has assisted with exhibitions, such as Rabbit Lane: Douglas Coupland, Rebecca Bair: Deep Conditioning, and Bobbie Burgers: The Hard Work of Spring.
In partnership with the West Vancouver Art Museum
For more information about our upcoming programs, visit westvanlibrary.ca.