A 2022 poster designed to accompany an exhibition of the same name, presented by the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Weltformat size, 128 × 90.5 cm (50.3 × 35.6 inches), ink jet. Design by Henk van Assen.

“The Tantramar Marsh constitutes an extraordinarily rich natural, cultural, and indeed, contested landscape. Google Earth offers perhaps the most accessible way to view its accumulation of surgical scars. The Mi’kmaq believed the RCI site was haunted and indeed, the sounds of the towers transmitting appeared as if summoned by magic. But there are also more tangible elements to this ghost story. The life-cycle of Radio Canada International, from first days to final acts, extended Canada’s power and influence worldwide through both diplomatic and military messaging and as such, was an exercise in imperialism. It was also a transmitter of humanist thought; a cost-effective media tool; and a local employer. Ghost Stations, the publication, here provides an opportunity to consider these electrified heirs of Gutenberg’s invention as powerful metaphors which presaged the wireless era of the Information Age. The works of Amanda Dawn Christie and Thaddeus Holownia, as human-scale records of space and time here filtered through an incomplete discussion, give ample evidence of the artists’ inheritance from the legacies of photography, film, and electric media. When viewed through the lens of contemporaneity, ‘place’ now includes virtual spaces where ethical issues related to access, authorship, privacy, and security have arisen. In facing the industrial scale of these new phenomena squarely while looking back at history, we might find the best opportunity for critical reflection.”

> Robert Tombs in “Photography, Film and Electricity,” Ghost Stations: Amanda Dawn Christie, Thaddeus Holownia and Radio Canada International, 2023