Capture x ECU Exhibition Spotlights Creative Struggle + Success of Emerging Lens-Based Artists
Tannaz Saatchi, takhteh nard, 2024. Woven archival inkjet print. From through tangled threads series. (Image courtesy Tannaz Saatchi)
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An April 2 opening reception and April 8 artist talk are part of the exhibition, showing April 2 through 23 at Emily Carr University as part of the 2025 Capture Photography Festival.
Photographs created as part of a groundbreaking course from Capture Photography Festival and Emily Carr University of Art + Design (ECU) bear the marks of emerging artists pushing hard to find their voices and evolve their practices.
The images are featured in the new exhibition, Ghost Images - Photography and Trace, showing April 2 through April 23 at ECU as part of Capture’s 2025 program.
Fourth-year Photography major Tannaz Saatchi says working toward the exhibition taught her to trust her instincts, leading her to a new approach involving physically altering and expanding archival photos to create “something completely new.”
“It was an intense experience,” Tannaz says. “I put a lot of pressure on myself to make something that would do well with people. But for the final critique, I turned the project completely around. I thought I would do what feels right and true to me. Which turned out to be more rewarding and successful than when I was making work simply to please others.”
Sophie-Jane Brindle, Costa Concordia Sinks, 2025. C-Print on archival inkjet. (Image courtesy Sophie-Jane Brindle)
Curated by artist and ECU faculty member Birthe Piontek, Ghost Images marks the latest edition of Capture x Emily Carr, an innovative partnered photography course between the Audain Faculty of Art and Capture Photography Festival.
Throughout the fall term, students receive mentorship from Birthe as well as curator and Capture executive director Emmy Lee Wall and other leading industry professionals. A juried selection of students spends the spring term producing the exhibition from start to finish.
In her exhibition statement, Birthe notes the works in Ghost Images spotlight photography’s capacity for bringing history and memory into the present.
“Some works make us rethink events in the past, drawing attention to issues that still need to be addressed in the now,” she writes. “Others rework images into an echo of a lived experience, filling us with longing for carefree moments of our childhood or addressing the void left behind by the loss of a loved one.”
Tannaz Saatchi, surah, 2024. Woven archival inkjet print. From through tangled threads series. (Image courtesy Tannaz Saatchi)
Emmy, who has collaborated with Birthe on the Capture x Emily Carr course since its inception in 2021, notes the enormous progress she sees students make each year.
“It is always a great pleasure and privilege to witness the students grow their practices over the semester and I’m continually impressed by their dedication and the immense leaps they take over such a short time,” Emmy says. “Thank you to our jury for such a strong selection of work, and of course, to Birthe for her ongoing commitment to this program that offers students both an incredible challenge and professional opportunity.”
Like Tannaz, fourth-year Photography major Sophie-Jane Brindle made a mid-semester pivot to focus on the themes and approaches that interest her most. Rather than take a narrative approach to image-making, she leaned into her fascination with technology and found imagery.
The result, titled Visual Pathologies, was created using eye-tracking software to establish “high visual traffic” points on viral images. The result is a “mosaic of fractured attention,” Sophie says.
“It encouraged me to think more globally about my work,” she adds of her experience in the course. “And Emmy is a decidedly distinct and important voice in the Vancouver arts community. It was great to get insight on distinguishing yourself in a field that can feel saturated with people working in similar themes.”
Sophie-Jane Brindle, Vancouver Riot Couple, 2025. C-Print on archival inkjet. (Image courtesy Sophie-Jane Brindle)
Tannaz adds that the critiques, while sometimes challenging, were a key part of her development.
“Emmy was real with us. She gave us her honest opinions, which is how you grow and how your work can flourish,” Tannaz says. “And Birthe is the best professor to teach this course. She is a great mentor and the perfect person to support us through this huge, term-long project. Working with her these past years has left a lasting impression on me.”
Ghost Images - Photography and Trace runs April 2 through April 23 in the Zone 4 gallery on Level One of ECU. The opening reception takes place April 2 from 5 to 7 PM, and an artist talk featuring Birthe with the exhibiting artists takes place April 8 at 6 PM. All events are free and open to the public.
Visit Capture online and follow them on Instagram to keep up with this year’s festival programming.
