I am interested in examining places where histories and connective mechanisms of the man-made environment are visible. I am predominantly a landscape, architecture, and built environment photographer with a keen interest in vanishing industries and their disappearing communities. The photography I have shared here is a mix of documentary photography and ongoing history, cultural anthropology, and ethnography, not originally intended as a comprehensive record, but rather one that developed over the long period I have worked on "inventorying". My particular practice of photography is not just documentary in nature, I do intend for my images to be viewed individually as well. Photographs can show specific times, past and present, and an ongoing period in one exposure. These elements of photography have always interested me, along with the invisible (to our eyes) spectrum I explore with my landscape and cityscape images. My longest photo documentary project has just turned 30 this year, which started with documenting the "Hidden Toronto" project I started when my interest in graffiti and exploring began in 1994.

One of my longest projects is a 30-year-long documentary of Toronto's (and many other cities') graffiti and later street art evolution. Most of this collection has lived in albums and in shoe boxes / hard drives, only to be seen by friends. It is not of much interest to people outside this culture and deserves to have its heritage archived like any other, which I have aimed to do since 1994. In 2013, I published a book called "Hidden Toronto" (I have a folder of these images under "albums" which showcased graffiti and street art hidden in the underbelly of Toronto. I also have spent time properly tagging and sorting this archival set of images, so you can now search by city, location, artist, or crew. I have licensed images for interesting and unconventional uses in the past, so you may contact me via the link below as I am always interested in collaborations and projects featuring old or new work. As of 2024, I have a series of 4 limited zines I am releasing and a new book next year that will celebrate the 30 years of this documentary project.

Interviews, social media, etc:

kathytoth.ca

IG: @the416toth

zaap.bio/KathyToth

Photos are copyrighted, and All Rights reserved, but I do share files with artists for non-commercial use. If you are interested in images for commercial purposes, please send me an email via my site, as I never check DM messages here.

You can read more about me here:

"Living in the Past - 29 years of Graffiti documentation" - Tidings of Magpies : magpiesmagazine.com/2023/03/22/living-in-the-past-an-inte...