phsc.ca

The news release says, “Toronto as Community represents more than fifty years of photography by Vincenzo Pietropaolo, ‘one of Canada’s pre-eminent documentary photographers’ (Canadian Geographic). The photographs are grouped around short essays that explore Pietropaolo’s particular interests and observations, often questions of social justice, which, in turn, inform the photographs themselves.

“This poetic portrayal of the city of Toronto documents the daily life of ordinary citizens, at work, at play, in celebration, in protest, and in mourning. The book includes images of many parks and natural areas and some of the city’s architecture.

“These images will invoke the reader’s sense of nostalgia, inviting reflection on the city that once was, how it became the city it is, and how it continues to develop and grow into a city of our imaginations.

“As the largest city in Canada and fourth largest in North America, Toronto has become one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world, with citizens speaking some one hundred eighty languages, with more than fifty-two percent of its residents born outside of the country.

“Vincenzo Pietropaolo has been a dedicated chronicler of Toronto for more than fifty years. His attachment to the city and its people is demonstrated on every page of Toronto as Community. He was a city planner with the City of Toronto for over fifteen years before turning to photography full-time. His focus lies in social documentary photography and photojournalism, and his projects have taken him to many cities around the world. Pietropaolo is an award-winning photographer and has been deemed ‘one of Canada’s pre-eminent documentary photographers’ by Canadian Geographic Magazine. He collaborated with Jane Jacobs by providing photographs for an exhibition based on her seminal book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities. He and his partner live in Toronto, where they are avid urban farmers in their own backyard.”