Ann Piché is a photo-based artist in Ottawa, Canada.
She has worked in technology since the early 1990s and was the first woman electronic technician hired by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), an experience that shapes her perspective on the relationship between science and visual 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. She has collaborated with 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, and has been published in SHOTS and PhotoED. Working in digital photography, her images are not software generated; she constructs them in-camera using light, movement, and hand-built sets.
Artist Statement
I am drawn to the logic and structure of scientific ideas. Without a human perspective though, they can feel distant and incomplete; I use my camera to make that connection. As the first woman electronic technician hired by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), I experienced the divide between science and art. Guided by curiosity about the unfamiliar, that tension continues to shape my work.
I work in digital photography, exploring photographic abstraction and in-camera experimental techniques. My images are not software generated; they are created physically with light, movement, and custom-made sets I build in my studio. By staging and constructing each photograph, I better understand the ideas behind it. Research helps guide this process, allowing unfamiliar concepts to take on a physical form that can be experienced rather than simply explained.
My work is not about illustrating science; it is about the emotions that arise when facing the unfamiliar. Through the use of abstraction and experimental techniques, I acknowledge the anxiety and tension we can feel in these moments. My images allow viewers to encounter unfamiliar ideas in a direct, intuitive way.
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.
