Architecture Exhibitions Winter 2012
January 28 - July 8, 2012
Surendra Lawoti, Shelter 18 (detail), 2010. Archival inkjet print. 41.5 x 50 inches. Image courtesy of the artist
Don River
Surendra Lawoti
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Surendra Lawoti contributes an excerpt from his photographic series that asks viewers to reconsider the relationship between dwelling and site. This component of the exhibition BIG ENOUGH? is presented by Visual Arts at Harbourfront Centre as part of an ongoing interdisciplinary focus.
For Don River, I focused on the makeshift shelters that dot Toronto’s Don River and their residents. I first came across the shelters during the summer of 2008. I had recently immigrated to Canada and made Toronto my new home. The recognition of “home” in these shelters immediately drew me in. I wanted to understand how people who do not have a home make one.
One of the most urbanized river watersheds in Canada, the Don is a prime environment for byproducts of urbanization. Amidst the precarious tussle between nature and urbanization, Don River looks at a landscape that is both public and private and a landscape that is known yet forgotten. The work brings forth the resilient shelters that witness the beauty of change in seasons and withstand the forces of climatic conditions.
In essence, this work is about making a home.
–Surendra Lawoti
Surendra Lawoti was born in Nepal. After completing high school he moved to the US, where he studied photography in Chicago and Boston. He has made Toronto his home since 2008. Lawoti’s work stems from his interest in social issues, politics, documentary, art and beauty. Human frailty, migration, home and sense of longing and belonging are reoccurring themes in his work. He has exhibited his work widely in Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, Boston, Medellin, Colombia and in Kathmandu. He teaches photography as a Sessional Faculty at OCAD University and University of Waterloo. Lawoti is represented by Gallery Kayafas in Boston.
surendralawoti.com
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