JeffStewartPhotos
Blessing of Unicorns 2
The rest of Canada can have a bit of an issue with how big and important Toronto might think it is. All the Canadian cities can do a great pitch. Montreal has charming buildings and good wine, (even in the corner stores). Vancouver has an ocean, the mountains, and seemingly streetwise black bears wandering the suburbs trying to act casual. Edmonton has folks who delightedly dance Bhangra with their snow shovels. Banff has the rockies. The Prairie cities have humbling, endless horizons. Calgary has oil and cattle. Quebec City is protected by battlements (yes battlements with actual cannons) and I’m sure pretty much everyone there either knows how to juggle or do trapeze. The Maritimes had Vikings, and Anne of Green Gables, and arguably the world’s best English accent. The Territories have the Aurora Borealis and polar bears, and they’re holding on to some of the last true wilderness. Ottawa has parliament, and the embassies and all the fancy national stuff that comes along with being a capital. So why is Toronto important if all it is is big?
I’ve lived here longer than I have lived any other place and honestly it has changed vastly in the last twelve years. If you don’t change then you are a museum and not a city. Jeff challenges that narrative of the big and important city with these fleeting instances of light and shadow, of changing seasons and protean neighbourhoods. He documents those changes; the destruction of a beloved supermarket, the dappled sunshine in a ravine, the dripping interior of a derelict power station, and then he records the occasional blessing of unicorns. Toronto is that big and important.
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, Rachel Irving and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
