This work is part community action, part documentation and part personal expression.
In January 2021, the Ontario government quietly started to demolish the historic Dominion Foundry buildings at 153–185 Eastern Ave, Toronto, overriding the City’s zoning laws using a Minister's Zoning Order (MZO). Through daily protests, lobbying and legal action by residents and politicians known as the Friends of the Foundry, the provincial courts ordered that the demolition be stopped and that significant parts of the buildings be preserved.
For me, this project began with an interest in what was happening behind the demolition fence. To try to convey the sense of secrecy surrounding the demolition, I made a series of photos peering through the debris screens and documented the protests by the Friends of the Foundry. A selection of these images was subsequently exhibited on the exterior walls of the Foundry using wheat paste in May 2021 to further draw attention to the campaign to save these heritage buildings.
Then, in October 2021, I was granted permission to photograph the Foundry buildings before sections of them were demolished or altered through future redevelopment. My goal was to present the buildings in an optimistic light—how could this space be reimagined to better serve the community, while preserving a sense of its history? With its passageways, cathedral-like halls and curtain walls of glass, what could this space become?
Extending beyond the Foundry itself, this project raises two broader questions: How does built heritage enrich our communities? Who gets to choose what is worth saving in our cities?
For more information on the status of the Foundry, please visit www.friendsofthefoundry.com
