Dr. Susan Close presented “Reconsidering Geraldine Moodie: Positioning an early Canadian photographer in relationship to modernism” virtually at Modernisms, Inside and Out, the Fourth Conference of Canadian Women Artist History Initiative at Concordia University, Montreal in collaboration with the Art Gallery of Ontario, McMichael Gallery and Ryerson University, Toronto, September 30 to October 2, 2021.

This paper explores the impact of modernism on early Canadian women photographers through a case study reconsideration of the work of Geraldine Moodie (1854- 1945). Moodie, an active professional photographer in the Canadian West, operated three photographic studios from 1895 to 1898. She was the first Euro-Canadian woman to photograph in the Canadian Arctic and made numerous portraits of Inuit that stand apart from conventional perspectives. Specifically, the paper argues that Moodie used the practice of photography to construct her voice as a modern professional who held independent and progressive views. Evidence to support this argument draws upon an analysis of her photographs and writings, some only recently available through a donation to the Glenbow Archives in Calgary. Informed by concepts of narrative, gender, performance, and decolonization, this analysis draws on the methodology of cultural analysis to reconsider Moodie’s photography in its intersections with modernism.