Local Duo Explores Life with Photography

A single photograph that Peter Gary took when his wife felt particularly vulnerable provided inspiration for the couple to collaborate on art pieces ranging from romantic to provocative.

Peter started shooting artistic photography in earnest after Monica had their fourth child, Rochelle.

"She was just having a lot of trouble because naturally she's very sensitive about the way she looks," Peter said. "I guess we all are to some degree. The media makes it easy when in magazines the women are in there airbrushed from head to toe."

To cheer her up, Peter took a dramatic picture of her.

"I remember how much it made me smile and how happy it made her for her to see that I saw her like that," Peter said.

Ever since, the couple has been working on various projects. The Workhouse Art Gallery in Springfield now shows their work monthly.

"It's a great thing to do together," Monica said. "It's tough- we're kinda opposite personalities in most ways but with this, we click and both do our part. It's very meaningful for me to do something I love with my husband."

In part, inspiration comes from their surroundings. Peter carries a composition book with him everywhere in which he constantly scribbles ideas for projects.

"Burke becomes a subject because I drive a giant Tahoe that houses all of our children," Peter said. "It's easy to get out and walk. If you end up driving you miss a lot."

Peter takes his camera with him everywhere, including on family outings to various town parks.

"Burke is kinda still left to be very quaint," Peter said. "It still has a warm feeling; people are still a little less edgy. The closer you travel into the city, the tougher it gets, the less appealing it is."

Their work is inspired greatly by the past. Peter had a troubled childhood, faced with a drug addicted, alcoholic mother and an uneven relationship with his father. He recalled at one point living in a tent. He moved out of his father's house when he was 17, never graduating from his tenure at Lake Braddock Secondary School.

"I continued to think like a moron for years," Peter said forthrightly. His marriage to a woman he dated in high school ultimately fell apart.

After his divorce, he quit his job as a division chief in a government agency, along with drinking, smoking and other habits.

"I took a step back so I could build my relationship with Monica," Peter said.

Now, with four children and a fifth on the way, the couple collaborates on their artwork in what time they have away from their jobs and family. The photography is funded by the couple's spare money, though they have sold a few prints of their pieces.

Much of their work explores darker subjects such as mourning, addiction, suicidal thoughts and consumerist culture. One tough series in particular, called Peace, includes a picture of Peter holding a gun in his mouth.

"It was very difficult," Monica said. "I was actually taking the picture. I had to keep telling him to keep going and keep acting this out and watching him relive this."

Monica said that she treasures the reactions to their work. While the pictures addressing suicide were hung up at the Workhouse Gallery, a woman came up to her and told her she was a suicide survivor.

"It was a very emotional moment. We never would have really known how that affected someone," Monica said. "I like touching on things that people don't like to talk about. I want people to look at that and say, 'Oh yeah, I've gone through that, but it's okay. They've gone through it too.'"

The couple works on using the same honesty that comes through in their art with their children as well.

"We're very open with them also; there are no "don't talk about" subjects," Monica said. "They can grow up and hopefully be proud of what we've done and see how it's helped people- not just being honest for the sake of being honest- but how it can help."

They are currently working on a series looking at addiction, which will include models they've cast from Craigslist. The Garys will be teaching a class on expanding creativity and working through personal issues through hard mediums in January at the Workhouse Art Gallery.

More of Peter and Monica Gary's work can be seen at www.pqgartistry.com and on Facebook.