This image is one of four conventional photographic prints 8 feet long and 4 feet high installed in the reception areas of Metro Hall (the metropolitan Toronto government offices) that are visible as you leave the elevator. The terms of the commission suggested that artworks should be relevant to the building and it's function, Five other artists were also commissioned to produce photographic works as part of the public art installations in the new building. At the submission stages I decided to deal with areas under the administrative purview of Metro that were people oriented and visible to me on a day to day basis when I visited Toronto. (I do not live there.) Because they are such an important part of the fabric of day to day life, I chose to photograph metro licensed "workplaces" that are particularly visible or evident to nearly all citizens. ie: Taxi drivers, daycare workers, restaurants and subway buskers. Each picture was made on location and the models are the people who actually do the work that they are shown doing in a dramatized form. The images make use of lighting and directorial techniques that are not ordinarily used for "documentation" in the workplace. The pictures borrow from the visual style of movie stills or corporate annual report photography.
