About Anna - Anna Soper

Detail photo of an installation of contemporary art. The photo depicts a ledge holding three objects: two prints and a clear box of gold leaf.

Detail photograph of the surface of the moon, printed onto multiple sheets of paper. A few craters are visible. There is a thick black border to the right of the image.

Cyanotype photograph of a flowering weed, Bidens vulgata (Tall beggarticks), and Chasmanthium latifolium (Northern sea oats); a variety of ornamental grass. The photo is blue and white, like a blueprint.

Installation view of temporary public art installation at the INVISTA Centre, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The view is of the foyer of the rec centre, and features pillars wrapped in vinyl prints of images taken with a Holga camera.

Photo of an image resembling an old herbarium specimen. The plant specimen was generated at random by DALLE•2.

Image generated by AI, depicting a star field in cyan, indigo and white. The image resembles a cyanotype photo, with abstract pinpoints of light resembling stars.

AI-generated image of a random biological form (resembling a trio of backlit mushrooms). The image was generated in the style of Irving Penn's still life photography.

Photograph of three images made with AI, in the style of Victorian natural history photographs. The images are displayed on a plain background, and depict abstract forms resembling viruses, nebulae and electricity.

Photograph of an image made with AI, in the style of a Victorian natural history photograph. The image is displayed on a plain background, and depicts a spherical virus with long, sharp points.

Photo from Terra Nova, a series of images referencing the climate crisis and melting polar sea ice. The image resembles an aerial view of a broken ice sheet.

AI-generated image in the style of a 19th century astronomy photograph. The image depicts a cluster of fireballs or meteors, falling towards the lower right corner against a dark field of stars.

Biography

Anna Soper has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from OCAD University, where she won the OCAD University Medal and the Canon Canada Prize in 2011. She has studied abroad at the Glasgow School of Art, and has a Master of Library and Information Science degree from Western University.

Through an inventive and interdisciplinary practice, Soper's work explores the history of science and scientific illustration. She is particularly interested in objects and archives, and often creates work that resembles found photographs or ephemera.

Soper has exhibited her work in Toronto, New York, and London, UK. She lives and works in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, where she has created two public art works for the City of Kingston.

Group Exhibitions

Public Art at the INVISTA Centre, City of Kingston, Kingston, ON, 2019-2020

Paved Paradise, City of Kingston, Kingston, ON, 2018

19/9/60, Modern Fuel Artist-run Centre, Kingston, ON, 2018

We Don’t Have One/I Will Be Very Soon, Tett Centre for Creativity and Learning, Kingston, ON, 2017

Krappy Kamera, Soho Photo Gallery, New York, NY, 2017

Intersections/Cross-sections, Student Gallery, Ryerson Image Centre, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, 2016

Constructed Truth, Modern Fuel Artist-run Centre, Kingston, ON, 2013

No Two Alike, Modern Fuel Artist-run Centre, Kingston, ON, 2012

Through Thick and Thistle, Modern Fuel Artist-run Centre, Kingston, ON, 2012

Photo-Op, John B. Aird Gallery, Toronto, ON, 2011

Cynosure, Drabinsky Gallery, Toronto, ON, 2011

The Show Off: 96th Annual Graduate Exhibition, OCAD University, Toronto, ON, 2011

Solo Exhibitions

Still Life, Modern Fuel Artist-run Centre, Kingston, ON, 2022

Stardust, Unit115, Kingston, ON, 2019

Imperfect Visions, Of Cabbages and Kings, London, UK, 2009

Publicity

In London Public Library's archives, a long-lost treasure turns up. London Free Press, January 24, 2022.

Alumna searches for botanist’s trailblazing work. Western News, August 23, 2019.

Where is Kate Crooks' 19th century botany collection from Southwestern Ontario?. CBC News, Aug 18, 2019.

Librarian seeks to unravel the mystery of local botanist. CBC Radio, August 16, 2019.

Ontario Morning - Thursday August 15, 2019 - Part 1. CBC Radio, August 15, 2019.

Finding Flora. Kingston Life, September, 2018.

Our new visual identity. Sketch, Fall, 2011.

OCAD University announces its 2011 medal winning students. OCAD University, May 4, 2011.

Publications

Soper, Anna. "Curation and Coursework: Exploring Special Collections Librarianship at Western University." Public Services Quarterly, vol. 12, no. 3, 2016. pp. 263-270. doi:10.1080/15228959.2016.1194244.

Soper, Anna. "In Ontario, a Quest to Rediscover the Work of a Groundbreaking 19th-Century Botanist." Atlas Obscura, Atlas Obscura, 23 May 2019, www.atlasobscura.com/articles/botanist-ontario-kate-crooks.

Soper, Anna. "Terra Nova." Shift: Conventions. Ed. Gordon Grice. Toronto: OCAD University Student Press, 2011. 26-31.

Soper, Anna. "These Stunning Botanical Images Are Blueprints of the Past." Atlas Obscura, Atlas Obscura, 8 October 2019, www.atlasobscura.com/articles/botanical-photograph-cyanotype-blueprint-past.

Awards

OCAD University Medal, Canon Canada Prize, Nora E. Vaughan Award (2011)

OCAD Photography Faculty and Friends Award (2010, 2008)

Canada Millennium Scholarship, Ontario Scholar, Queen Elizabeth II Aiming for the Top Tuition Scholarship (2006)

Detail of a digital collage and cyanotype depicting a plant apparently scattering seeds against a deep blue background.

Detail from Stardust, 2019.

Lantern slide from the 1920s depicting Stonehenge and illustrating the sun's position at the summer and winter solstices. The emulsion on the glass side is torn with age and water damage.

Still from Lumen, 2017.

A moody photo-collage depicting a partial solar eclipse. The sun is bright red and crescent-shaped against a black background as the earth's shadow recedes across its face.

Detail from Eclipse, 2018.