Toronto Through My Lens

 

Every community is made up of diverse individuals, each of whom has a unique experience of the city in which we live. These experiences often stay close to us, only loosely making connections with the stories of others who call the same city home. The mission of Through My Lens is not only to document life in the city just as it is, but also to bring all these unique stories together in one place, to ignite connections to our spaces and each other and to inspire positive action within our communities.

Starting on September 10th, people of all ages from all parts of the city will be embarking on a photo-taking adventure. We hope to give a voice to those who normally do not speak up for change, and through this project foster a stronger sense of community within our cities.

Each day during the project, participants will be given a different theme as the subject of their inspiration, ranging from people to potential to food. They will then submit one photo for each day, totaling 10 photos at the end of the project. We encourage participants to walk new paths, look in different directions, to promote creativity and to inspire themselves and others along the way. Our goal is to reach over 1000 people throughout the project, at least 50 of whom participate fully in the photo-voices collection.

These photos will be collected for online exposure, and a selection of them will be displayed together on October 1 as a photography exhibit. The images in this exhibit will serve as the centerpiece of dynamic community conversation. Together, we will discover new connections to our stories and develop new perspectives. Following the project, our goal is to use these stories to spearhead five city-building proposals that will positively impact community members.

We are passionate about our cities. We get energy from people. We are curious about the millions of stories that live where we live. We are looking to encapsulate the essence of city life from the people who live here and to share all our stories to promote creativity, civic engagement and a collective voice for change. We interact with others every day, and together we continue to weave the narrative that makes our community what it is today. We all have a story to tell – and Through My Lens is our chance to tell it.