Alumni association celebrates graduating students’ art

“As new graduates, you’re joining a celebrated group of alumni who have made great strides and are really influential in contemporary Canadian culture,” said Catherine Wild, dean of Concordia’s Faculty of Fine Arts, to the crowd of students, alumni and art lovers.

• See more vernissage pictures on Flickr.

The Concordia University Alumni Association Prize for best artwork went to Raphaël Tétreault Boyle. His Panoramique de Ville, a vast cityscape photomontage that challenges viewers to imagine themselves within the dystopian — or possibly utopian — metropolis.

“Raphaël’s work was very well executed, but moreover his piece made us feel good,” the selection committee wrote of the winning piece.

“The montage is immersive, relatable, imaginative and captivating. We appreciated the international feeling combined with the magical quality of the elements coming together to make the viewer feel inspired and whisked away to another world.”

Boyle said that winning the award and having his work shown in the exhibition means a great deal to him. “It being my first exhibition and my first award, I’m just so grateful these opportunities exist at Concordia, that I was given these opportunities, that I was recognized,” he said. “What inspired me was to really bring worlds together, cultures together.”