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Blackwell, Adrian
Kate McConnal’s Space (#1 from Evicted May 1, 2000 [9 Hanna Ave.])
2001

This series of spectacular pinhole photographs documents artists’ live-work spaces at the now demolished building at 9 Hanna Avenue in Toronto. The building was occupied by artists for almost two decades and thus played a significant role in the Toronto art community. The artists were evicted from their homes and studios to make way for a wave of upscale condominium development in the King West district of downtown Toronto. To produce these images, Adrian Blackwell constructed a foam-core model of the room module at 9 Hanna Avenue and lined the box with transparency film. This crude camera was mounted on the ceiling with the aperture facing down into the room. Exposure time ranged from one to two hours; thus, the images capture still objects and ghostly traces of the activities that took place in these highly personalized spaces. The richly detailed images of Evicted… are contact prints made from the transparencies thus exposed: the process has generated a poignant spatial ambiguity and enchanting visual puzzles. The project documents the inventive individuation of the architectural modules in a vibrant art community, and the dissolution of that community through the pressure of market forces on urban space.

 
Blackwell, Adrian
born Toronto, Ontario, 1966
Kate McConnal’s Space (#1 from Evicted May 1, 2000 [9 Hanna Ave.])
2001
colour photograph, 1/4
60.0 x 75.0 cm
Purchased with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance Program and the Chancellor Richardson Memorial Fund, 2002
45-004.01a-b

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