Observing the Lachine Canal
Photographs by Clara Gutsche and David Miller
The Lachine Canal, which is over one hundred years old, suffered a long period of neglect after having played a key role in the development of Canadian industry. The area’s industrial buildings and topography, from Montreal’s Old Port to the municipality of Lachine, and its relationship to the city were recorded by Clara Gutsche and David Miller during different seasons of the year.
They pay particular attention to the area around the Saint-Gabriel locks, a symbol of industrialization and a hub of nineteenth-century economic activity, and exemplary of the Canal area’s neglect. The photographs encourage the perception of new and unexpected relationships.
For David Miller, the area’s huge, abandoned industrial structures are to be apprehended as monuments, the remains of a recently extinct society. His 28 × 36.5 cm photographs, taken with a view camera and printed directly from the negatives, enhance reality and portray a remarkable degree of visual presence. In her photographs of interiors, Clara Gutsche expresses the human dimension through its absence. The quality of light in her works and her attention to space reveal the emotion of these empty expanses.
David Miller. View of the Northern Electric Company Building looking south from the roof of the Belding Corticelli Spinning Mill, Montréal, Québec. 1985. PH1986:1256
David Miller. View of the Canadian National Port Bridge and Canadian National Wellington Bridge looking south from the control tower, Montréal, Québec. 1985. PH1986:1200
Clara Gutsche. Interior view of the Canadian Switch & Spring Company Building showing the former pit (now a catchment for waste water), Montréal, Québec. 1985. PH1986:1247
David Miller. View of the Redpath Sugar Refinery looking east from the roof of the Belding Corticelli Spinning Mill with Lachine Canal and downtown Montréal in the background, Montréal, Québec. 1985. PH1986:1254
David Miller. View of the workshops of the Belding Corticelli Spinning Mill looking west from the roof, Montréal, Québec. 1985. PH1986:1274
Clara Gutsche. Interior view of workshops on the fourth floor of the Belding Corticelli Spinning Mill, Montréal, Québec. 1985. PH1986:1303
Clara Gutsche. Interior view of the Caledonian Ironworks Building showing an empty room on the upper floor, Montréal, Québec. 1985. PH1986:1323
Fifteen years after the waterway closed, we commissioned Clara Gutsche and David Miller to document its changing landscape.
