Transcriber: Yasmine Wong Reviewer: Chryssa R. Takahashi
Alright, I only have a few minutes, so, I'll jump right into it.
I'm a photographer,
and I've always been interested in exploring the city
through different means or different perspectives,
at least, ones that are new to me.
Sometimes, that can involve walking along a set of railway tracks,
other times, it can involve going into an abandoned building,
or, simply just taking a different route home
on the way back from work.
And, shortly after I arrived in Montreal in 2006,
after I started poking around the city a bit,
I discovered that it was actually possible
to explore an extensive part of the city with a bit of resourcefulness
by entering the sewer system.
And Montreal's a very old city,
as a result, its sewers date back to the early 1800s,
and because these places are pretty difficult to access,
they've remained untouched over the years.
With that has come a certain degree of beauty
that has developed over that time.
And, it's also developed something
that's revealing of the city's evolution.
They're sort of strange places to be in the first place
because they're entirely dark.
Any light that you see in these images
is light that I brought with me.
The sound of the city above is completely erased,
it's replaced by the sound of flowing water.
And it's really just a surreal environment to be in with.
It's easy to forget that you're connected to a system
that's being fed by a modern populous, above ground.
You don't run in to other people, at least, I never have.
Not yet.
The city, they tend to go underground
by using remote controlled equipment.
So, they'll do things using cameras,
they'll do inspections at street level.
But, it's more than just escapism.
It's been quite the opposite for me.
I've found that it's enabled me to feel a deeper connection
with the city as a whole.
And part of that comes with just,
having to go to neighborhoods, different neighborhoods,
different parts of the city
to get into these places that I might not visit otherwise.
Then over time I've developed sort of
an intimate relationship with the city,
knowing not only what's underground,
but how that's connected to the landscape above it.
I've developed an interest in the context of these places.
Why were they built in the first place?
And, many times, I'm taken right back to the early days of the city,
because before there were sewers, there were creeks,
and these creeks played a vital role in the city's development.
Two creeks in particular defined
the early boundaries of the old city;
and later on, the creeks created the basic framework for roads
that we drive on today.
Over time, those creeks became just so polluted
that it made sense to drive them underground
and to contain them within a sewer system.
This isn't something that was limited just to the downtown area,
it took place all over Montreal
to the point where, today,
we are left with very little of that hydrology.
There's this element of water being underground,
that I find really endearing.
Because, these aren't just conduits for human waste...
they're artificially manufactured channels
that are containing a natural element.
There's also this element
of mystery underground that I find really captivating.
So much of the city above us has been meticulously researched, documented,
and fed back to us in a myriad of different ways.
The underground is still kind of vague and murky,
it's not always clear as to why
things are the way they are.
The darkness only amplifies that.
And as a photographer, that darkness is usually a nuisance,
but, underground, it's actually a different story.
It's quite liberating in a sense that
I'm given a blank canvas to work with.
I'm using my light to define the space,
to give it some life; if only temporarily.
After I leave, it returns to darkness again.
I feel that it's important to photograph these places
because you can go to the city archives of Montreal
and you'll find a box of photographs
showing sewers, taken between the 1920s and the 1960s
mostly showing, maybe construction and final inspection
you'll find sewer maps,
you'll find all kinds of documents relating to technical details.
But, what you won't find are colour photographs,
and you certainly won't find photographs that present these places
as anything more than cold, hard infrastructure.
On top of that, you certainly won't find personal accounts
of what it was like to be underground in the first place.
You won't find any records that suggest people were there
for any other reason than official city business.
I felt it to be a bit of a duty to present
my own experiences, my own stories,
not as a civil engineer,
or a waste water management specialist,
but, as a person, or an artist
who's really just looking to re-define
how a city can be explored and experienced.
I think too often our role as citizens.
We're discouraged from wandering beyond set paths in the city.
Whether it's sidewalks, or roads, or fences.
I find it encouraging to know that with a bit of perseverance,
it's easy to break through those barriers every once in a while.
And, we can reveal something,
if not, just about the city,
but, perhaps ourselves as well.
Thank you.
(Applause)