Headlighting 1974-1978
"In each image of Headlighting, a single vehicle’s side view is centred in the foreground, its long horizontal shape reinforced by the geometry of the 8x20-inch frame. ... The principal allusion is that relationships develop between humans and technology. Each image’s long exposure, shallow depth of field, and tonal range confer a kind of atmosphere poetics to the mis-en-scène." — Robert Tombs
In 1974, the distinguished graphic designer Allan Fleming encouraged Holownia to use a large-format view camera — a conversation that proved instrumental in shaping Holownia’s aesthetic. Shortly after, Holownia set out from Toronto on a trip that took him into the U.S. Midwest and then east into Atlantic Canada. Each day, Holownia captured images of cars and their owners in their everyday settings, developing the exposures in makeshift darkrooms at night.
An encapsulation of the everyday life and fashions of the mid-70s and a tribute to classic vehicles of all shapes and sizes, Headlighting 1974-1978 is a compelling document of a time and a place when car culture was at its peak.
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“It’s a book more than four decades in the making.” — Toronto Star
“Headlighting: 1974–1978 asks us to view the past through the lens of contradictory information. It asks us to hold competing interpretations and conflicted feelings in our minds at the same time, to see the '65 Ford Mustang as both an object of desire and an object of contempt.” — Literary Review of Canada
Thaddeus Holownia, ONB, MSRC, ARC, is a visual artist, letterpress printer, and publisher. He is professor emeritus in the Pierre Lassonde School of Fine Arts at Mount Allison University, where he taught for over forty years. Holownia’s photographs are held in numerous public collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the International Centre of Photography in New York, and the Yale University Arts of the Book Collection. Holownia has written or contributed to more than 25 publications. He received the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2025.
Robert Tombs is an Ottawa-based artist and designer, who is currently the president of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.
