A new photographic perspective on Toronto: MYTORONTO

MYTORONTO, an initiative that engages people who have experienced homelessness, to capture their perspectives of the city. Participants were sent out with disposable cameras and asked to take pictures of anything in Toronto that inspired them. The top 40 images will be showcased in an exhibition in October and the top 13 in a calendar, which will be sold on the streets of Toronto. See their journey to the judging table.

For more on this inspiring story visit the Toronto Star: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/08/25/2400-images-100-cameras-seeing-toronto-through-a-different-lens.html

Or read and excerpt of Emily Mathieu's story below:

2,400 images. 100 cameras. Seeing Toronto through a different lens
MYTORONTO photo project put disposable cameras in the hands of people who have experienced homelessness or are currently without housing and tasked them to take images of what inspires them. The top 13 will be in a calendar.

Far from the sidewalks, away from the street corners and beneath the bridges topping the city’s ravine system is a side of life in Toronto most people will never see.

“People sleep down here, up there, over here, where we were just at. Everywhere we are showing you so far is where people sleep,” said Montgomery Tobias, 60, speaking about the empty campsites and makeshift shelters hidden throughout Cedarvale Ravine.

Tobias, with four friends he knows through Native Men’s Residence, is trekking through the trees, near St. Clair Ave. W. and Bathurst St. All are armed with disposable cameras to shoot photos for MYTORONTO, a new contest aimed at showing Canada’s largest city through the eyes of people who have been pushed to its margins.

The men chose to focus on a place full of natural beauty where they regularly walk, swap childhood stories, share what they have in their pockets and have sought relief from the struggles of daily life.

They also wanted to highlight how a lack of affordable housing and a chaotic shelter system leads vulnerable people to seek a life entirely off the grid.

The people who make the ravine their home won’t return until after dusk.

“So they are safe to set up their campsites, sit down and get something to eat and maybe lay down and go to sleep,” said Tobias, who thinks the city should make it easier for people to live outdoors if they choose.

In July, organizers of the MYTORONTO project handed out 100 single-use Fujifilm 35 mm, 27-frame cameras, to people who had experienced homelessness or are currently without housing. Five days later more than 2,400 images came back.

For more on this story visit thestar.com

Видео A new photographic perspective on Toronto: MYTORONTO канала Toronto Star