I’ve lived in Willowdale, in one place or another, for the better part of 20 years. It was on these streets that I learned to take pictures; the familiar stretch of Yonge Street between Finch Avenue and Sheppard Avenue was the subject of my first pictures.
On April 24th, 2018, a man in a rental van took the lives of 10 people, and injured 16 more. I was a few blocks away, at home, while it happened.
I take no pleasure in inserting myself into tragic situations for the sake of a photograph. However, in this moment, I felt a sense of grim responsibility to continue documenting my home, as I have done since I was a teenager.
The only camera I had handy happened to be one of my first, a manual film camera through which I had viewed these streets countless times.
