About
Ruth Steinberg is a photo-based artist from Ottawa Canada. She holds a BFA from the University of Manitoba, an MA in Applied Linguistics from Carleton University and graduated from the two year Portfolio Program at the School of the Photographic Arts Ottawa.
Ruth was the Artist in Residence at Enriched Bread Artists in 2014 where she produced her award-winning series What the Body Remembers. She was one of seven emerging artists invited to exhibit in the Karsh Award group show Continuum, held in 2017 in celebration of Canada’s 150 anniversary. In 2018 Ruth was a winner in the International Julia Margaret Cameron Award, which exhibited at the Barcelona Foto Biennale. Her ongoing series about her mother was recognized in 2019 by jurist Fran Forman for a feature in Rfotofolio Selections. (https://rfotofolio.org/2019/05/10/ruth-steinberg/)
Well before I ever picked up a camera I discovered the works of Diane Arbus and Dorothea Lange, and in recent years, that of Sebastiao Salgado. Although the subjects of their photography differ, what these artists have in common is their curiosity and deep compassion for the marginalized and “unseen” among us. By showing us images of the dispossessed, these artists brought their stories and circumstances to the mainstream and gave dignity to people oftentimes overlooked.
Like these artists that so influenced me, I have been drawn to comment on some of the contemporary social questions of our time, not as a documentary photographer but through my artistic interpretation of events or issues. Working in the genres of portraiture and the nude, my earliest projects make visible the “hidden” long-term care residents of a rehabilitation facility (Saint Vincents) and the sexual assault of a young woman on an American university campus ( Disposable). Comfortable in his Own Skin documents one person’s challenges with both gender identity and body dysmorphia. What the Body Remembers and Safekeeping focus on issues related to the elderly and aging.
My work may be varied in topic and genres but the single thread running throughout is compassion. I seek to understand and acknowledge the people I encounter, to listen to and honour their histories, and to share their stories through my art.
Exhibitions
COMFORTABLE IN HIS OWN SKIN
Solo Show
Enriched Bread Artists
Ottawa ON, 2019
SELF PORTRAIT
Juried Group Exhibition (Jurist Aline Smithson)
PhotoPlace Gallery
Middlebury VT, 2019
FIGUREWORKS
Group Exhibition
St.Brigid’s Centre for the Arts
Ottawa ON, 2018
JULIA MARGARET CAMERON BARCELONA FOTO BIENNALE
Group Exhibition
Space Nau Bostik
Barcelona, Spain, 2018
FEMININE REDUX: WORKS BY RUTH STEINBERG AND LORI BRETHOUR
Joint Exhibition
Studio 66
Ottawa ON, 2018
CELEBRATING WOMEN
Juried Group Exhibition (Jurist Joyce Tenneson)
PhotoPlace Gallery,
Middlebury Vt, 2018
FOUNDATIONS/FUTURES
Group Exhibition
Studio 66
Ottawa ON, 2018
ARTICULATIONS
Group Exhibition
Studio 66
Ottawa ON, 2017
CONTINUUM: KARSH AWARD ARTISTS WELCOME A NEW GENERATION
Group Exhibition
Karsh-Masson Gallery
Ottawa ON, 2017
INTIMATE PORTRAITS
Juried Group Exhibition (Jurist Joyce Tenneson)
PhotoPlace Gallery
Middlebury VT, 2017
PAS DE DEUX/TANGO
Solo Show
Atrium Gallery
Ottawa ON, 2017
PAYSAGE
Group Exhibition
Darkroom Gallery
Essex VT, 2017
PORTRAITS FOR JACQUES BREL
Solo Show
Gladstone Theatre
Ottawa ON, 2016
TRANSIENCE
Online Group Exhibition
L.A. Photo Curator
Los Angeles CA, 2016
REVEAL
Group Exhibition
Darkroom Gallery
Essex VT, 2015
WHAT THE BODY REMEMBERS
Artist Talk,
Studio 66
Ottawa ON 2015
DEVELOPPE
Group Exhibition
National Arts Centre
Ottawa ON, 2014
EXHIBIT #9
Group Exhibition
Red Wall Gallery
Ottawa ON, 2014
UNSEEN
Group Exhibition
La Petite Mort Gallery
Ottawa ON 2014
EXHIBIT #8
Group Exhibition
Red Wall Gallery
Ottawa ON 2013