"Ordinary Women" by Thelma Pepper

Entitled Ordinary Women, this retrospective will highlight the life’s work of one of Saskatchewan’s preeminent senior artists. Known for her black and white photographs, Thelma Pepper documented the lives of prairie women and men, putting their experiences and resilience into focus. Connecting through shared stories, Pepper illuminated the critical roles women held within their seemingly ordinary, everyday environments.

Pepper’s photography is exemplified by compassion and dignity, coming from her deep curiosity, sharp mind, and ability to put her subjects at ease. The exhibition focuses on the depiction of elder women and women in rural life. Ordinary Women contextualizes Pepper’s work in relation to her peers and mentors—enriching an understanding of her work well beyond its value as a local historical record. 

The exhibition is a collaboration with the University of Saskatchewan Art Galleries and Collection. Including works from both Remai Modern’s and the University of Saskatchewan’s extensive art collections, along with important loans, this exhibition brings together several defining series from Pepper’s career, including Decades of Voices: Saskatchewan Pioneer Women, Spaces of Belonging – A Journey Along Hwy 41 and Untie the Spirit, presented alongside a selection of photographs by other important female photographers.

CURATORIAL TEAM

Co-curated by Sandra Fraser, Remai Modern’s Curator (Collections), and Leah Taylor, Curator, University of Saskatchewan Art Galleries and Collection.

ARTIST

Thelma Pepper (b. 1920-2020) was a Saskatoon-based artist. Born in Nova Scotia, Pepper was introduced to photography early in her life by her grandfather and father, amateur photographers who had their own darkroom. Pepper studied biology at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, completing a Bachelor of Science and later, a Master of Science at McGill University, Montreal. Having moved to Saskatoon in 1947, it was not until after her four children were grown that she began her own photographic work. 

Pepper was active with The Photographer’s Gallery, an artist-run exhibition and resource centre dedicated to photography as an artistic practice. At the age of 66, she had her first solo exhibition, entitled Decades of Voices: Saskatchewan Pioneer Women (1986), and only recently retired her darkroom studio.

Pepper was the subject of a National Film Board of Canada production, A Year at Sherbrooke in 2009, and in 2014, she was the recipient of the Lieutenant Governor’s Arts Award—Lifetime Achievement.