The Decisive Moment: Ema Peter

Architectural photographer, Ema Peter, documents leading contemporary structures in Canada and across the globe. Born in Bulgaria, Peter spent much of her youth on set with her father who worked as a cameraman for major Bulgarian film productions. Interested in documenting life as it happens, she began photographing anti-fascist protests as a student. After leaving Bulgaria to pursue an internship in photojournalism at the Magnum photo agency in Paris, she became intimately familiar with the work of French humanist photographer, Henri Cartier Bresson (1908-2004). It was in Paris that Peter’s love of modern architecture was ignited. Inspired by the clean lines and visionary thinking of mid-century architects, she drew from her training in photojournalism to document the architectural world around her.

This exhibition features architecture at the forefront of West Coast Modernism throughout coastal British Columbia, with selected images of her renowned international projects. The acclaimed architects that she has collaborated with include Kengo Kuma, Falken Reynolds, McLeod Bovell, Omar Gandhi, Battersby Howatt, Revery Architecture, among others, whose projects support multi-generational living, public engagement, and environmental sustainability. The selected images illustrate Peter’s unique ability to bring architecture to life through fleeting moments: figures moving through space, a cloud tracing the sky, or a rare quality of light.