Some assignments stay with you, and this is definitely one of them.
We were brought on to document the creation of Paisajes de Nosotros (Landscapes of Us), a large-scale public mural commissioned by Toronto Metropolitan University & OCAD as part of Arctic/Amazon: Networks of Global Indigeneity, an expansive curatorial program originated by the Wapatah Centre for Indigenous Visual Knowledge. Curated by Gerald McMaster, the mural is a collaboration between two Indigenous artists: Niap (Nancy Saunders) from the Arctic, and Olinda Reshinjabe Silvano from the Amazon, brought together across geography and culture to create something neither could have made alone.
There's a particular kind of privilege in being asked to photograph other artists at work. The process is often as compelling as the finished piece and in this case, getting to witness the collaboration unfold from beginning to end made the eventual unveiling feel like something we were genuinely part of, not just there to document.
The 12-by-8-metre mural temporarily lived on the west-facing wall of Kerr Hall at Toronto Metropolitan University. The colour palette holds the ice, northern lights, and Inuit cosmologies of the Arctic in one hand, and the bold kené designs— ancient woven visualizations of plant songs from Shipibo-Konibo tradition— in the other. Seeing it go from concept to wall, at that scale, was truly something.
For Ethan, whose own Mohawk heritage informs both his work and his worldview, this assignment carried additional weight; photographing Indigenous artists creating work that celebrates global Indigeneity, and seeing that work installed in the heart of a major Toronto university, is exactly the kind of project that matters beyond the images.
If you're an institution, arts organization, or cultural project looking for editorial and documentary photography in Toronto, we'd love to hear from you :)
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