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Photo grad turned curator teams up with April 

By Anna Sarkissian

The artist-curator relationship is delicate; it’s a question of judgment and balance.

Concordia graduate Eduardo Ralickas, who curated Équivalences, said working with his former professor, Raymonde April, was a mutual education process.

“She remains the artist, it’s her work,” he says. “She’s very patient and open-minded. She responds to input from others and really thrives on it.”

Ralickas’ challenge was to craft multiple exhibits that would create the same experience for the audience – equivalents. Each series presents 10 to 15 images in various Montreal galleries.

“For me, Raymonde’s work is a form of visual language. She can compose words and sentences with her images on the wall,” he says.

After graduating from the photography program in 2000, Ralickas went on to do his master’s at Université de Montréal. He also worked as assistant editor at Parachute, a contemporary art magazine. He is currently completing his PhD in art history at UdeM and the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris.

Ralickas says he was honoured to collaborate with April, calling her one of the most important artists in Canada.

“What’s amazing is that she remains a reference for students. At the opening, I was looking around at all of the young people present. Her work is something that informs their vision.”