Pier

This is a work in progress working on the sound and final cut of the movie. numerous videos of this pier of the Toronto Islands. I have been making video and stills of this site for over 20 years making high and low water and sessional changes. Human intervention within a natural landscape has been a central theme of my work for over thirty years. These images are inspired by my lifelong observations and connection to the immediate environment of the Toronto Islands where I have lived since childhood. The Toronto Islands have a rich cultural history beginning with the indigenous peoples now known as the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation, for whom the island had spiritual and hunting importance. European settlers used the island for leisure, fishing and hunting and by the 1870s, a tent city was born and latter still small cottages. The community eventually grew to include several thousand people, many of whom lived there year-round. However, in 1954 ownership of the Islands was transferred from the City of Toronto to the newly-created Metro Toronto, which set about demolishing homes to create the Island Park. After a long battle, provincial legislation was passed in 1983 to protect the remaining houses 250 houses from undergoing the same fate.Today, the Islands consist of a car-free alternative community of 750 people surrounded by a public park which is the largest green space in the city, located less than one mile from downtown Toronto. Over the past few years the water levels in the lake have varies causing high water issues that have changed the landscape and accessibility of the Island.