IN FOCUS

Over the course of the last few months, I have been creating new images in the Saint-Boniface neighbourhood of Winnipeg. To be exact, I have been photographing the remains of the old Saint-Boniface Cathedral (the Fifth Church) which burned on July 22nd, 1968 as well as the new Saint-Boniface Cathedral (the Sixth Church) which was completed in 1972. Did you know there were 6 churches built on that site? I most certainly didn't. This last church was designed by our very own 'architecte extraordinaire' - Étienne Gaboury. Most of you probably know that Étienne designed a number of iconic Winnipeg buildings and structures such as the Esplanade Riel Bridge, The Royal Canadian Mint, l'église Precieux-Sang (Precious Blood Church), le Centre culturel Franco-Manitobain, the Manitoba Remand Centre and the Videon Cable Building amongst many others.

It was a distinct pleasure to finally meet Étienne a few weeks ago, listening to his stories as I prepared to photograph the interior of this latest church. Étienne will co-write the text along with publisher Joanne Therrien of 'Les Editions des Plaines'. The book will be released this coming spring. This book will be the first of a series of books that I will be producing in collaboration with 'Les Editions des Plaines'. I feel very fortunate and blessed to be working with two excellent Winnipeg publishers, my other publisher being 'Turnstone Press' who published 'Prairie and Beyond'.

To view a small selection of my new images of the Saint-Boniface Cathedrals, click on the image.