11-12

I paused. The frigid winds of Christmas night slapped and stung my face as I looked down at the salty concrete below. My hands were wet and cold, clinging to the icy steel rungs of a roof access ladder, half way up the side of an old tire factory, my camera eagerly anticipating the view from the top. I said to myself, “This isn’t what normal people do.”

I couldn’t help but think about all the people I know that wouldn’t think it was unusual for me to be hanging off the side of a building in the middle of the night. I am so blessed to have all of those people in my life – for the adventures we’re had, the thoughts and feelings we’ve shared and the understanding and support we’ve built. Some of you I have known for a lifetime and others for only a few months, but I want all of you to know just how grateful I am to be alive in the same time and place as you are. Now is all you have and the people you share it with truly make it what it is.

Happy Holidays, Solstice and New Year, my friends. I love you all. 

Occupy Toronto G44 Exhibition

10 days ago, Alice Dixon, the Exhibition Coordinator at Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography, approached me to do a showing of my Occupy Toronto photos. Alice wanted the exhibition to be timely and told me that we'd have about eight days to get everything ready. Between photographing the imminent eviction of St. James Park, getting the photos prepped and sent to Alice, and other assignments and work, things were a bit busy. Nevertheless, everything got done and the show turned out great.

The exhibition features three 30" x 45" Giclée prints and three HD monitors running slideshows of photographs. The work will be on display through the month of December in the Gallery 44 Vitrines at 401 Richmond Street in Toronto.

I am really excited to be a part of a project that marries the timeliness of photojournalism with the aesthetic and presentation of contemporary photography. The show opened last night and the responses were overwhelmingly positive. Alice, Darren, Marvin and everyone else at Gallery44 did a fantastic job in helping it all come together.

Below are a few photos from last night's opening. Enjoy!

Occupy Toronto Eviction

I headed down to St. James Park at about 11pm on Tuesday night and spent the evening photographing what I figured would be the last hours of the occupation of St. James Park. Unfortunately, I was right. Toronto Police arrived the following day at about 6am and moved in at 7am. What followed was a day-long process of systematic evictions, property destruction and arrests. The entire process dismantling and disposing of the community lasted from sunrise to sunset. Although police and media contest that the eviction was peaceful, many people, including myself, saw as it as a violent assault upon the rights and emotions of the occupiers. The worst part was watching the police drag protesters into paddy wagons before they destroyed the sacred fire that had tended to by First Nations elders since the beginning of the occupation.

On a personal level, this process was very hard to watch. I'm not afraid to admit that I shed a few tears while my face was behind the camera. You can say what you want about the OWS movement, but I saw the occupation of St. James Park as a powerfully symbolic community. The dedicated individuals who gave their time and effort to make it possible are real heros. Their hard work created a lightning rod for passionate hope and change where everyone was welcome to contribute. It will be dearly missed.

Tents and signs may be crushed in trash compactors and buried in the ground, but their occupants and authors live on. Thoughts and ides cannot be censored or silenced between whispering lips and open ears. Words cannot be punched, kicked or stomped under military boot soles. A movement can never be evicted from a park, just as the growing outrage of a people will never go away on its own. The 99% are still the 99% and that fact will carry them into the future with strength and unity.

The Last Days of St. James

These are photos that I meant to post earlier. They were taken on a few different visits to the Occupy Toronto camp over the past couple weeks. Unfortunately, some outside factors prevented me from photographing the happenings of the community in St. James Park as much as I would have liked to. As many now know, the camp was evicted yesterday. I will have photos from that posted here shortly.