In an increasingly busy and fragmented society, a gathering of select members (however defined), serves as a touchstone of social congregation and human connection in the name of common interest. Members Only provides a window into the exclusivity of private clubs from both a functional and aesthetic standpoint and comments on the club’s formalities, customs, strengths, and weaknesses. The work serves as an open-house where the doors of such institutions are opened to the imagination, asking the viewer to arrange and comment on the absent societal demographic to their best assumption. The underlying theme of Members Only is in its subtle comparison to what might be an archeological excavation where members of one social epoch collide with the current one on topics of class, tradition, and relevance. I was inspired to create a visual work that examined and questioned the sociology of an institution and its relation to our current culture. The project is meant to serve as a meditation on the meaning of exclusivity based on notions of class, status, profession, political affiliation, gender and religion.

Jonas St. Michael was born in Montréal and completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography at Concordia University. Much of his photographic work is “documentary-based” and touches upon concerns and observations about his cultural surroundings. Although his projects are varied in terms of subject matter, they share a common theme inasmuch as they communicate a social reality through a particular physical environment. His work also explores the fine line that exists between what is real and what is fiction in representational imagery. This year, Jonas will begin a Master of Fine Arts degree at Goldsmiths, University of London and has upcoming exhibitions at galleries in Edmonton and New York.