Country Matters

Agricultural once dominated Canada and Ontario was once a peaceful rural domain. The structures, tools and creatures dotting the landscape still reflect this reality. Tom Zsolt captures the strange visual balance between old village churches standing among the clutter of suburban strip malls and gas stations. These 100 images aren't a requiem but instead a record the changing land, people and lifestyles in rural Ontario. Country Matters was well received by the public and the media and was short listed as one of five finalists for the Roloff Beny Award in 1999 for the best book of photography by a Canadian, published that year.

Praise for Country Matters:

Tom Zsolt's photograhs capture the link that connects the past to the present, giving the viewer an image of the privileged moment of transition that usually exsists only in the blink of an eye.

KATE BROWN, Artist, Joyce Wieland Protegé Honouree and Director Canadian Mantle Project

Zsolt's images express the humanity and humour of country living in ways the written word never could. There's plenty to think about as you turn the pages of this fine book... lots to smile about too.

ALAN BEATON, Reviewer for Natioal Post and author of "A Better Place"

Old walls stand in small Ontario towns bearing witness to our past. Tom Zsolt has put just enough of himself into his photographs to help us contemplate where we have come from in our headlong rush toward tommorow.

JEREMY TAYLOR, Photographer and author of "Intersections".

Canadian Art Cards has published 42 of Tom Zsolt's images including landscapes, documentary and people from across North America. These fine reproductions were avaialable in galleries and card shops including the National Gallery in Ottawa, the McMichael Gallery in Kleinburg and the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography in Ottawa.

Tom Zsolt's photograph Hands was selected for the cover of the novel
A Better Place written by Canadian author Alan Beaton.

Works in Progress:

Zsolt recently completed work photographing the remnants and restoration of "Halifax NA337", a unique and historic aircraft intended to be a permanent memorial to Canadian airman of the Second World War. Zsolt's photographs will comprise a major portion of a book to be published in conjunction with the opening of the new war museum, built to house this massive bomber. Tom is currently collaborating with writer/psychologist Toni Atkinson on a book of landscapes. His photographs, taken across Canada and abroad, will be accompanied by Atkinson's essays exploring visual perception and the affects of our surroundings.