James Wilson

“Wilson shares portraits of the very old and the very young, of the socially prominent and of the outcasts. All of his models are photographed using only natural light against a neutral grey background, a leveling effect that takes nothing away from the inherent dignity of each subject.” — Billie Magazine

“The book attempts something that photographers have strived for since the advent of the camera — to represent a time and place. One hundred years from now, when a New Brunswicker picks up James’s book and asks: ‘Who am I? Were do I come from? Who came before me?’ they will have 80 answers staring back at them.” — CreatedHere Magazine

John Leroux has practised in the fields of art history, architecture, visual art, curation, and education. He is currently the manager of collections and exhibitions at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. Leroux holds a bachelor of architecture degree from McGill University, a master’s in art history from Concordia University, and a PhD in history from the University of New Brunswick. He was a team member of Canada’s entry at the 2012 Venice Biennale in architecture, and he has taught at the University of New Brunswick, the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design, and St. Thomas University. Leroux is the author or editor of sixteen books, including Peter Powning: A Retrospective, The Lost City: Ian MacEachern’s Photographs of Saint John, and Wabanaki Modern: The Artistic Legacy of the 1960s “Micmac Indian Craftsmen”.

James Wilson has worked as a photographer for more than forty years, using large format cameras, both film and digital. Wilson is best known for his landscapes, still lifes, and black and white portrait studies. His work has been the subject of fifteen solo exhibitions and has been featured in numerous group exhibitions. His photographs are also included in many corporate, private, and public collections, including those of the National Gallery of Canada, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, and Canadian Embassies and Consulates in Europe, North Africa, and the United States.