Honouring the local creators

[attach]7490[/attach]What began as an attempt to capture the “future history” of Yonge and Eglinton in a photography project turned out to have a much wider scope for David Ticoll.

What the amateur photographer says he captured in his project entitled Created by Everybody: Entrepreneurs and Artisans of Midtown is more than just a snapshot of local stores that were targeted for closing. He also captured the “creative individuals” who are the owner-operators of the shops being displaced by condo development.

“When I looked back at the pictures I’d taken what I discovered was that none of them were pure retailers,” Ticoll said Feb. 6 during the opening night gala at Grano Restaurant on Yonge Street just south of Soudan Avenue. “They were all people who were actually artists, artisans or did things with their hands or bodies.

“They were creative individuals. Even if they were in the food business, they made the food.”

Ticoll said he was not expecting the project to have a political side, but in doing it he discovered there is more to the common discourse that says future communities should have small businesses.

“To me, it’s not just about having small retailers but having indigenous creativity in the neighbourhoods, and it doesn’t have to be high art,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be art galleries. It can be dance studios.”

Local councillor Josh Matlow spoke to a crowd of about 50 who had turned out for the opening night, addressing the “rapidly changing face” of the area and how Ticoll has found a way to preserve some of the history.

“As (development pressures) are changing our community I think it’s so important that we as a community have a say in how it’s going to grow and how it’s going to change,” he said. “At this very moment, David has captured what we love about this neighbourhood: the ma and pa shops, the artisans, the creativity, and the people who create such vibrancy on our main streets.”

Former Toronto mayor and Toronto Centre MP David Crombie addressed the crowd, saying the project reminds him of an inspiring quote he once read regarding how people build great cities.

“That was, ‘The ability to know and remind themselves of their own history,'” he said, before paraphrasing an extension of the passage. “‘In times of change — particularly in times of rushed change — you need to understand who you are and where you think you’ve been in order to figure out where you think you ought to be going.'”

Hannah’s Kitchen owner Brian Kennington, who is featured in the project, says he jumped at the opportunity to be involved.

“As soon as he came in I said I’m on board,” he said. “I’m a creative person so I could appreciate what he was trying to do.”

Since the project finished last April, Hannah’s Kitchen is one of several businesses to have moved or closed altogether.

After 10 years at Yonge and Eglinton, Kennington has relocated his business to 2181 Yonge St. Two other business owners thus affected by development pressures have taken their enterprises elsewhere, one has closed up shop, two are looking for new locations and another two find themselves contemplating their next step.

Ticoll says he has an idea of what the next steps for his project should be. It entails dialogue.

“What I’m hoping happens is that we have a much richer dialogue about the kinds of communities we build, as we build and add density to the city,” he said. “The question is this: Do we want this kind of diversity in our neighbourhoods, and if so what do you have to do to create fertile ground for these kinds of enterprises to survive and flourish?”