current exhibition
marginalia
nicholas x bent
January 31-March 29, 2026
Artist Talk: Saturday, March 7 - 1pm
marginalia is an exhibition of photographs that conflate image and process to evoke a haunting sense of ephemerality. the contorted, corporeal forms of remnant trees that subsist along property edges and borders bear the scars of occupation thereby revealing a divergence from wild ecosystems. much like scribbled notes in the margins of a book, these wounded trees leave their marks at the margins of human encroachment.
shaped by use and neglect, these remnant forests with uprooted trees, broken limbs and damaged trunks act as footnotes to a dominant narrative. the photographs in this show hold a space where suppressed histories, eccentricities, and alternate narratives endure. marginalia reflects on the pressures of conformity - both social and ecological - and the urgent need to preserve the spirit of margins as sites of resistance, resilience, and becoming.
nicholas x bent
raised in a northern mining town in ontario, canada, nicholas experienced the contrast of stark landscapes stripped by mine operations and pristine old growth forests, of eerie blue lakes deadened by acid rain fallout from mine smelter stacks and green lakes filled with the promise of dinner.
the land was heaved up from the earth’s core and settled by sediment – islands of red granite shot through with veins of black granite and gleaming quartz in streams of pocked limestone. spruce, cedar, and junipers – hundreds of years old and perched on cliffs with only a promise of tomorrow’s rain. the land’s ghosts travel on the wind and lodge in the valleys, gorges, and crevasses, revealing history to those with eyes to see it.
as a child, he was taught about the living rocks and the expressions of trees, that their energies are a collection of stories presented over time. if one can be still enough the stories will reveal themselves.
movement and contrasting light have always been of interest to him: “riding in the back seat of my parent’s car as a child, forehead against the window, i would drift into a trance and watch light collide with trees or squint through tears to create optical illusions. i found that the ability to bend the subject or alter contrasting dynamics was a hook”.
today he lives on a farm hundreds of kilometres to the south. human altered landscapes and the remnants of those who came before are his subject matter.
the narrative attributes of his technique lend possibilities to landscape, figurative, or street photography which can transcend traditional interpretations.
The Durham Art Gallery invites you to an artist talk by nicholas x bent on Saturday, March 7 at 1pm.
The photographer is not only a skilled artist but an engaging speaker and we are delighted to offer gallery goers a glimpse into his process and ideas that give life to his work. nicholas x bent will speak about the themes of our current exhibition, marginalia and dive into some of his photographic techniques that utilize intentional camera movement (icm) that have created striking images akin to charcoal drawings.
marginalia is a photographic exhibition of what’s written in the margins, on the peripheries of our social and environmental narratives. The margins hold possibility and space for alternatives while also reminding us what is neglected in the context of relations of power and normativity.
We would like to acknowledge funding support from the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario.
nicholas x bent exhibition courtesy of the cardinal gallery
