This exhibition reflects on the metamorphosis of Toronto’s Leslie Street Spit, including what is now Tommy Thompson Park, tracing its evolution from landfill waste into a place of ecologically complex habitats. Through natural processes and human intervention, the Spit is now shared by wildlife and city residents alike—used for walking, cycling, birdwatching, and quiet retreat—a landscape shaped by both wildlife and human activity.
Incorporating light-sensitized plant proteins, the handmade prints are created using pigments ground from brick and charcoal gathered from the site, establishing an aesthetic and physical connection to a place shaped by histories of use.
Peter Friedrichsen is a Toronto-based photographer and alternative process printmaker known for his experimental approach and minimalist aesthetic in image making. His work reinterprets historical photographic printing techniques, exploring how materials, surfaces, and processes shape the interpretation of the image.
My photo-based mixed-media work explores time, transience, and transformation.
The City of Toronto conducts prescribed burns to regenerate the Oak Savannahs. The urban nature of the Golden Horseshoe has squeezed these rare endangered ecosystems into specially designated areas, including High Park in Toronto. Fire stimulates the germination of Savannah species and controls invasive ones. During the burn events, the Savannahs are transformed into ephemeral places by fire and smoke. I have photographed these landscapes, which transition through states of destruction and recreation, capturing serial and incremental changes. In Hot Spots, I have used elements of the Savannahs, including burnt wood, to create three-dimensional scenes, incorporating orthographic film and gel transfers, from protests and other “hot spots”.
Frances Patella, born in Italy, resides in Toronto. Her photo-based work explores transformation in the landscapes of prescribed burns. She has received numerous grants from the Ontario and Toronto Arts Councils for Artists in Education and Mid-Career projects. Frances won Best In Show and Purchase Awards for the City of Vaughan juried exhibitions. She holds a BFA from York University, a B.ED. from the University of Toronto and studied Visual Arts at the University of Western Ontario with painter Paterson Ewen. Frances also studied drawing and art history in Florence, Italy, through the University of Windsor. Frances’ work has been widely collected in public, private and corporate collections and reproduced on magazine and CD covers.
