Suzy Lake

Suzy Lake is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. In 2016, she was recipient of Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts. and the Scotiabank Photography Award.

Lake was the subject of a comprehensive retrospective exhibition, Introducing Suzy Lake, at the Art Gallery of Ontario in 2014–15 curated by Georgiana Uhlyarik. In 2016, she received the Scotiabank Photography Award. This resulted in another survey exhibition curated by Gaëlle Morel at the Ryerson Image Center (RIC) in Toronto, as part of the 2017 Contact Photography Festival.

Lake completed a Master of Fine Arts degree at Concordia University in 1980.

Lake taught at the University of Guelph from the 1980s until her retirement in 2008, when she was given the title Professor Emerita.

From the mid-1980s until 1994, Lake ceased appearing as the subject of her work as she turned her attention to more direct forms of camera activism. Among her notable works from this period is a series of photographs she created in collaboration with the Teme-Augama Anishnabai Band of Bear Island in Temagami, Ontario, to bring greater public awareness to their land claim.

She has been represented by Galerie Gilles Gheerbrant (1974–1977); Jared Sable Gallery (1976–1990), and Paul Petro Contemporary Art (1995 – 2012). Lake is currently represented by Georgia Scherman Projects, Toronto (2012 – ); Solway Jones Gallery, Los Angeles (2009 – ); Galerie Donald Browne, Montréal (2010 – ).

In an interview in Magenta magazine, Lake noted the influence of the political climate of the 1970s on her work. She stated: "I know that I am a feminist, but I can see that my politics originated in human rights issues, civil rights, the FLQ in Quebec and race issues in the States." In 2006, Roberta Smith of the New York Times compared her work to that of Cindy Sherman; however, Thomas Micchelli, reviewing the feminist collection of the Vienna-based Verbund AG for Hyperallergic.com asserts that Lake was an influence on the latter in school. The two artists were contemporaries in the 1970s and in 1975 Sherman invited Lake to exhibit in a Hallwalls show in New York.

Lake lived in Montréal for about ten years. She taught at the Montreal Museum School (1969–1978) and was mentored by the Minimalist artist, Guido Molinari. She was active in the early conceptualist art scene there. In 1971, Lake became a co-founder (with twelve other artists) of the artist-run gallery Véhicule Art Inc. Lake's work during this period was influenced by photo-based artists (including Les Levine) who were using the camera to represent an idea rather than documenting reality. This was also a period when Lake began to concentrate on the subject of identity. In her 1973 series of photographs entitled A One Hour (Zero) Conversation with Allan B., she is the subject as the camera records her expression at various intervals of a candid conversation with a friend. To emphasize her expressions, Lake used white face make-up. She then invited her friends and family to circle which of the photographs most represented her personality.

Suzy Lake RCA (born June 24, 1947) is an American-Canadian artist based in Toronto, Canada, who is known for her work as a photographer, performance artist and video producer. Using a range of media, Lake explores topics including identity, beauty, gender and aging. She is regarded as a pioneering feminist artist and a staunch political activist.

Lake was born June 24, 1947 in Detroit, Michigan. She began her fine art studies at Wayne State University and Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan from 1965 to 1968. During this period, she became involved with the anti-war and civil rights movements of the 1960s. She also witnessed the Detroit Race Riots of 1967. Soon after, in 1968 Lake immigrated to Canada with her husband to escape the Vietnam War draft. Settling in Montreal, she found herself amidst social upheaval as a result of the Quiet Revolution.