File: TTInterview03032017
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[Music]

Q: The event opened a couple of days ago.

how has the response been so far?

A: Well it's early days we're anticipating

that

most people will be coming to the

opening reception that occurs

next Thursday. So, we've just been putting

out the

calls on social media and so on to let

people know about the exhibition. So,

I would say response is modest at

the moment

because people are just learning about

it. Q: Lovely, and what's going to happen at

the opening reception?

So, basically what people are going to

see are two exhibitions actually.

the one i'd like to focus mostly on is a

photo documentary piece called "Focus on

Gerrard" which is basically an

exhibition of

rook depicting 33 images and interviews

that we've

taken and conducted with people who live

in that

area of Gerrard known as Little India.

It's an area that's under tremendous

transition

and we thought it would be really

interesting to document that process.

So we've gone out and interviewed people

taken their photographs.

These are individuals families,

businesses, institutions,

asking them what they like about the

area? What it's like living there? Working

there?

And how they feel about the rapid change

and how they're responding to it.

So it looks a little like humans of New

York in terms of composite images

and text but basically we hope we've

captured a snapshot of

this neighborhood in transition. Q: And

Toronto is such

a multicultural and diverse city and it

seems like things are changing so fast.

So why exactly did you pick Little India

as the area of focus? A: Well you're

absolutely right.

You know we're seeing this in

neighborhoods all across Toronto

and we thought that little India since

we're all eastenders.  And we're quite

familiar with the area and it's an area

that is

in significant change. This was sort of a

bellwether or typical neighborhood in

transition in Toronto and we felt it

would be a

an excellent choice. And we loved the

culture and we loved the area and we

knew that we could

you know tackle it and hopefully do

a good job depicting

the area and the changes it's undergoing.

Q: Sure, so when you were talking to

residents and I guess people who work in

Little India. Was there any sort of

consensus

on the change in the area? A: I would say

yes, but it's interesting. It's a bit

divided in a way. The main

changes are

the waning of the south Asian

influence

and the influx of young families and new

businesses coming into the area.

So it depends who you talk to. The one

consistent thing is people are embracing

the neighborhood

and they like continuity and they're

committed to the neighborhood. So when

you speak to the

Sari shop owners and jewelry shop owners,

and restaurants.

They will tell you that business is in

decline because so many south Asians are

now

in the suburbs but they're very

committed to the neighborhood and

they're basically going to

embrace the change and stay the

course.

When you talk to young families and

young businesses, they look at the

challenge of creating a new community.

But in the context of the south Asian

community, they want to be part of it

and they're very interested in trying

to have a synergy and develop a new

vibrant community.

So it's a very consistent message.

We're hearing lovely and

Q: Exactly how big is the exhibit? A: There

are

33 works and each one is a panel

of 24 by 30 inches so it's quite

substantial. It fills

the whole gallery. Q: So how do you capture

that vibrance of a neighborhood in one

photo?

A: Well it's 33 photos.

So, basically, we basically walked out

and

and we had a little spreadsheet on the

demographics of who we were interviewing

and popping in. We would just walk the

neighborhood

making sure that we contacted

traditional businesses who've been there

30, 40 years.

As well as new businesses, we have the

church, the food bank,

the local library, young families, that

have moved in and so on. And so as we

went through this, and took a look at

who we had

interviews and photos for, we decided to

to adjust the balance so that we had a

good cross section.

As far as vibrance went we just

went with the interviews where people

really had

who spoke eloquently about the area and

had something

really substantive to say about the

future and the changes. Whether it was

positive or negative.

Q: And you talked a little bit about

walking around, and you also do

photo walks, and are your photo walks

just going to be in little India or

other areas in Toronto. A: The ones

associated with this exhibition focused

on Gerrard are

limited to the area so that it would be

complementary to the

exhibition. So they're happening the

second third and fourth

Saturdays in March. The one

on the second Saturday is going to be

particularly interesting because it's

being led by

the representative from the Leslieville

Historical Society.

Name is Joanne Dussette and she's a

fountain of information so she'll be

walking the neighborhood telling the

history and so on. How little India's

genesis came to be and that's actually a

very interesting story.

I can tell you about it if you're

interested and so she'll

do that and as a kind of professional

walkers with cameras. We're

going to be there to help people try to

capture some of the neighborhood as we

have.

Q: Amazing. Well we are out of time but

thank you so much for coming out and

talking to us about this exhibit.