7 July – 6 October 2025
1640 Electra Boulevard, Sidney, BC
Daily, 3:30am – 1:30am
The venue at YYJ is the café area before security
7 July – 6 October 2025
1640 Electra Boulevard, Sidney, BC
Daily, 3:30am – 1:30am
The venue at YYJ is the café area before security
About the Artist:
Guinevere Joy has developed her signature style of photography throughout her artistic career. The subtle blending of water and light holds an inexhaustible fascination for her. In creating landscape images, most of the magic occurs in the moments when the shutter of the camera is open, while the interaction of light playing upon water materializes as dawn approaches. The movements of the waves, the clouds, the depth and reflection of the water, are variables on any given day. Some days hold exquisite beauty, others are mediocre. One must show up, do everything right, and hope for the best. It seems that creating art is a metaphor for life.
Cloud Diaries
It is common for artists to revisit themes over and over, capturing what they love in different colours, moods, and light. In the morning, I arrive early, before the sky shows any hint of light. I make my way down the rocky slope to the water in the darkness—the warm summer breeze awakening my senses.
From my vantage point at the water’s edge, I wait with my tripod balanced on the rocks. Just barely out of reach of the lapping waves, I have a perfect view of the elm tree on the island in the distance. My 50mm lens extends perfectly to each edge of the mouth of the bay—a perfect crop. I return again and again, capturing the sky and the light on different days. I have learned to leave judgment behind, as I have been surprised many times by skies that defy conditions that don’t seem conducive to beautiful colours.
The sky that is about to unfold in those crucial moments of dawn is always unknown—like a gift being carefully revealed, second by second. I wait, ready with my tripod and camera, poised to capture the colours as they fleetingly unfold with the first light. The little elm is a sentinel, my focal point—a witness to me, as I am to it, and to the passing currents of water and clouds moving through the strait. These are my cloud diaries—a record of the passing days and light.
Dreamscapes
I spent some time in the Salar de Uyuni—a vast salt flat located in Bolivia—after a series of fortunate events brought me there. The first day was spent driving deep into the salt flats. My clothes were immediately covered with salt, and my tripod bravely withstood the salinity of the environment. When it rained, I took the opportunity as a blessing, as rainy weather often creates more interesting images than clear, sunlit days. During the day, the colours were surreal and dreamlike, and at night, the canopy of stars was reflected on the water that stretched to the horizon on all sides. It was profoundly quiet—unlike any other place on Earth. In this saline environment, no birds or animals can survive. There are no trees whose branches might carry the whisper of the wind. Standing there, surrounded by the endless expanse of the luminous plain, I felt suspended within a watery, mirrored rainbow. In this quiet, radiant world, every breath became a meditation, every capture a discovery, and the vastness instilled a serene awe—a feeling of being small, yet deeply connected.
Dawn is my favourite time of day to make art, and in the Salar de Uyuni, the colours are unparalleled. As the sun rose quietly, the colours began to emerge from the darkness. On one occasion, there were still a few remaining stars—pinpricks in the indigo sky. If I had left any later, I would have missed them. As the light quietly arrived, the colours began to envelop me from all sides. I felt as though I were standing in a colourful kaleidoscope—a landscape that felt more like a dreamscape. I stayed in that colourful dream, capturing the beauty with my camera until the light changed, depositing me back into the plain light of day.