Ann Piché is a photo-based artist in Ottawa, Canada.
Working in technology since the early 1990s, Ann was the first woman electronic technician hired by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP); an experience that continues to shape her perspective on the relationship between science and art. Her work builds visual connections between these disciplines, creating accessible entry points into the unfamiliar.
A graduate of the School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa (SPAO), her work has been presented in solo exhibitions in Canada and in group exhibitions internationally. Ann’s collaborations include the Departments of Mathematics at the University of Toronto and York University.
Her work has been supported by the Jackman Humanities Institute at the University of Toronto, the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences, the City of Ottawa, and the Ontario Arts Council. Her images have been published in SHOTS and PhotoED.
Ann’s images are not software generated; she constructs them in-camera using light, movement, and hand-built sets.
Artist Statement
What does it feel like to encounter something unfamiliar?
My work begins in that moment of tension, where curiosity meets uncertainty. Where perception bridges knowledge and experience.
As the first woman electronic technician hired by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), I worked within systems defined by precision, structure and measurable outcomes. That experience revealed the strength and limitations of scientific thinking; a that tension continues to shape my work.
Exploring photographic abstraction and in-camera experimental techniques, my images are not software generated. They are created physically, through the manipulation of light, materials, and movement using custom sets I build in my studio. This commitment to the material process is central to my process, allowing complex and intangible ideas to take on a physical form.
My work is not about illustrating science; it is about the emotions that arise when facing the unfamiliar. The use of abstraction and experimental techniques is an acknowledgement of the anxiety and tension we can feel in these moments.
I am grateful for financial support from the City of Ottawa, the Ontario Arts Council, The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences and the Jackman Humanities Institute, University of Toronto.
