[URBAN NOTE] "Who’s Really Using Moss Park?"

[rfmcdonald]

Torontoist's Beatrice Paez profiles a remarkable photo project in Moss Park.

Yasin Osman is no stranger to witnessing a neighbourhood in transition. The 20-something first dabbled in photography by documenting the subtle changes in Regent Park. With his mother’s cellphone, he focused on the smallest details—a windowless frame, a disappearing door. Taken together, those negligible details dramatically alter a landscape, once the dilapidated buildings are torn down.

This time, however, Osman wants to bring into focus the lighter, more joyous side of changing Moss Park that Torontonians don’t always get a glimpse of. “Moss Park doesn’t necessarily have the greatest reputation,” he says. “Sometimes people forget that there are people in these places who are happy.”

Osman was among eight artists recruited by The 519 LGBTQ community centre and the City of Toronto for the Moss Park Portrait Project. Local artists were dispatched around the park and its surrounding streets to capture everyday life in the area over the course of 17 hours.

The portraits will eventually be displayed chronologically, to show who visits and uses the park throughout the day.

The event, held on August 27, was part of The 519 and the City’s latest round of public consultations over the fate of the John Innes Community Recreation Centre. It’s touted as an effort to capture the community’s mood and gather feedback on the proposal. With an estimated $85 to $100 million at stake, the proposed plan is to reconstruct the centre, which is situated on park grounds, and to transform its wider surroundings.

I'll look forward to seeing these photos once the exhibit is up.