REGINA - For every photo Sask. resident Brenda Cardiff takes, there is one common similarity between all of them, which is they include a prairie chair.
For over a decade now, Cardiff, also known by her photography name, 'The Prairie Chair,' has created a series where she will take photos of historical landmarks with a prairie chair, which is all about storytelling, she said.
Cardiff herself has always enjoyed taking photos. After her kids left home, she decided to buy a DSLR.
At the time, Cardiff admitted she had no idea how to use the camera. So, she attended extension classes at the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology, now known as Saskatchewan Polytechnic.
After taking a few classes, Cardiff got a handle on the DSLR and also Adobe Photoshop, so she started going out with the camera and taking photos.
As Cardiff learned to take photos, one day in 2014, she happened to stumble upon this prairie chair that was in her husband’s grandfather’s old home. Upon seeing it, Cardiff "had brought it home, and I spray painted it white for a wedding that I was going to be shooting because I wanted to take it out on the road, and I wanted this old vintage chair, and so that's where the chair came from."
Later on in the year, Cardiff decided to take the chair out and take a photo along the rural backroads as the shadows started getting long from the sun setting during the fall season.
After taking the picture, Cardiff "posted it on a photo page on Facebook." She started getting responses like, "oh, I'd love to come sit in that chair."
In that moment, Cardiff said that was how the series was born. Wanting to take photos of historical places, Cardiff decided to travel to different area's, like barns and schools, with the chair.
She has even travelled across the country with the prairie chair to take photos. "The chair has been to like Peggy's Cove and Prince Edward Island. It's been out on the East Coast. [It also went to Tofino where], we went out to Vic[toria] down Vancouver Island," she said.
In most photos, the prairie chair is usually empty and almost always photographed from behind. Cardiff explained, the reason for that is "it's just a metaphor for whoever's watching [or] looking at my [Cardiff's] image, right? It's your seat [so] come sit [for] a while. Right. That's kind of the metaphor to [it], [you know], just sit in that chair, place yourself in my image and have the story read to you [and] narrated to you of what you're looking at."
In the around 11 years Cardiff has been doing this, she was asked what her favourite photo from the series was.
Cardiff started getting emotional with her answer. She explained the photo was a bunch of wooden crates with oranges in them at a particular schoolhouse, with the prairie chair.
The story behind this photo was Cardiff was talking to her neighbour, who passed away last spring, about one-room schoolhouses and how Santa would always come to visit the schools.
So, Cardiff asked her neighbour, "what's the one thing you always hoped [that] Santa would bring? and he said a Christmas orange."
Back in the day, Christmas oranges used to come in crates, which is why Cardiff put a bunch of wooden crates with oranges in them as part of her photo.
One neat thing Cardiff has experienced since posting her series on Facebook is hearing from others about how big of a fan they are or how their relatives liked her photos.
Recently, Cardiff got a message "from a lady, and she said, 'Brenda, I want to tell you that my mom was such a big fan of yours, and I'm just letting you know she passed away last week.' And so, there's been lots of that."
Hearing those reactions, Cardiff said, "I'm honoured and humbled by things like that. Cause yeah. I'm just out doing what I like to do, and I'm just touched when people enjoy it also."
Recently, Cardiff’s work has been put on display at the Lobby Gallery in the Regina Performing Arts Centre.
Cardiff was able to hang her photos at the gallery because she is part of the Regina Art Collective (RAC). The group will have their shows on display three times a year.
She decided to put in a application for her own show and went through an interview process. Seeing her photos on display, Cardiff is "pretty excited about it."
There will also be a meet the artist happening at the gallery on March 31 between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., where Cardiff will be there to meet and chat with people.
Cardiff said that "will be fun" for herself. She added, "I've had people who have been following on 'The Prairie Chair' page that said, 'I wish I was closer [to you], I would come [to see you]. I've never met the[se] [people, but their] names are often very familiar [with me]."
Even though these people have never met Cardiff, they have been telling her they want to meet her at the gallery and see her in the prairie chair.
As for what 'The Prarie Chair' has in store next, Cardiff said, "I have a collaboration with somebody, but I can't talk about it yet.'
Cardiff wouldn’t say who the person is, but she did mention it is a photo project that will start in the near future.
