\u201cIt\u2019s not like on Instagram where you look at something for two seconds, and you keep scrolling, he\u2019s like \u2018no, you\u2019re going to stay here. You\u2019re going to have a conversation, and you\u2019re not just going to wander off. You\u2019re not just going to shoot a picture and then go.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then we talked for 30 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
These types of interactions set Lee apart from image-takers who aimlessly wander the streets of Toronto.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese people aren\u2019t props\u2026 here\u2019s a whole person, not just an object to photograph,\u201d says Lee.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoing this forces me to slow down and be more mindful. Hopefully, that will also translate to the people who watch them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt allows for audiences to also then say, hey, \u2018what does it mean for me to be in a space?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Zun Lee at the Contact Photography Festival<\/h2>\n
It\u2019s May, and that means it\u2019s photography month in Toronto.<\/p>\n
The CONTACT Photography Festival<\/a> has long been a way for artists to reach broader audiences \u2013 amplifying photo exhibitions beyond professional galleries and bringing them out into the caf\u00e9s and public spaces of the city. CONTACT shines a light on photo art in Toronto.<\/p>\n By giving local photographers a platform to share their work, CONTACT offers worldwide access to the diverse mosaic that is Ontario\u2019s capital city. It\u2019s a space where those behind Canadian lenses can showcase their work \u2013 in person or online \u2013 to be discovered by the global community. Visitors from across the globe come to attend the festival or exhibit their images, bringing international perspectives to our city.<\/p>\n The festival illuminates individuals like Lee<\/a>, a physician, educator, and street photographer from Frankfurt am Main who immigrated to Toronto in 1997. Lee wants to demonstrate that it\u2019s not merely the images themselves that are important; it\u2019s the meanings, people, places, discussions, and questions behind them that we must examine. And he\u2019s taking a different approach to achieve these ends.<\/p>\n Through a collaboration with the Goethe-Institut<\/a> and curator Jutta Brendemu\u0308hl, Lee\u2019s latest exhibition, for:GROUND<\/a>, opens up a space for conversation rooted in mutual exchange. A goal of the \u00a0Goethe-Institut is to create a cross-community space that bridges cultures and creates a safe space for debate.<\/p>\n for:GROUND is an offering to Toronto, exploring how people perceive themselves and their bodies in public spaces. Do they feel regulated, threatened, precarious, or at home? \u201cWhat does it mean to even just move through a certain location,\u201d asks Lee. In essence, what does it mean for a human being to interact with a space, and what questions arise from that interaction? Lee aims to explore why people\u2019s experiences are so varying when public spaces are supposed to be neutral.<\/p>\n for:GROUND serves as a critique of the rise of fl\u00e2neurism in street photography \u2013 a practice of wandering often dominated by a white-male-centric gaze. In response, Lee utilizes lingering and loitering in public spaces as a way to reclaim space, especially for marginalized communities.<\/p>\n The term loitering traditionally carries with it a negative connotation, one of criminality and over-regulation. Not belonging, not allowed, not welcome. Merely staying in a public space without apparent purpose is viewed as suspicious. You can be fined, pushed out, or forbidden from coming back. And the \u201cluxury\u201d of hanging out in public spaces without intervention is not equal for everyone. Lee\u2019s purpose with for:GROUND is to examine the disproportionate manner in which marginalized and racialized communities are viewed as \u201dloiterers\u201d in public spaces rather than citizens connecting with each other in oppressive cityscapes.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we don\u2019t see it, we can\u2019t talk about it,\u201d says Lee.<\/p>\n Lee also explains that in street photography there\u2019s a sense that BIPOC people cannot do what white fl\u00e2neurs can do \u2013 leisurely wander about and take pictures without being questioned. What are you<\/em> doing with a camera? What are you<\/em> doing here, period?<\/p>\n So when Lee hits the public arena, he doesn\u2019t stroll, nor does he wander; he loiters. And it\u2019s opened up a new world of possibilities.<\/p>\n Based on the German cultural concept of Verweilen<\/em> \u2013 meaning dwelling and appreciating the space you\u2019re in \u2013 Lee is reclaiming his space and inviting others to do the same.<\/p>\n \u201cI want my images to be intimate and not just kind of stolen, or what people call candid.\u201d<\/p>\n Lee\u2019s loitering practice allows him to connect with subjects more deeply. When hurrying along in a daily routine, it\u2019s challenging to learn about people or see the world through their eyes. But when you stop, look, and listen, you can discover new things about someone that perhaps you\u2019ve always wondered. You can see<\/em> them.<\/p>\n By staying put and being seen, he\u2019s allowing himself also to be vulnerable, present in the moment, grounded, rather than hunting for the next shot.<\/p>\n \u201cIt forces you to really develop a relationship with the city in that very moment and stay in that moment,\u201d says Lee.<\/p>\n It gives him an appreciation of the city and the people in it, and makes him feel more connected, a feeling he hopes others will gain from his photographs.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope the images are not just for the sake of the images.\u201d<\/p>\n Sometimes he\u2019ll repeatedly go to the same spot, stay for a few hours, and not take any photos. He\u2019ll simply notice the same people who occupy the space he\u2019s in and become part of that space himself. And a different relationship then emerges.<\/p>\n \u201cIt requires an investment, right, of time, of energy, and just even making yourself visible to others, and not just kind of stealing a shot\u2026 You\u2019re not hiding who you are and what you\u2019re doing.\u201d\u00a0He says this can open the chance for the next encounter to be even more intimate.<\/p>\n The practice also serves Lee, who has struggled with belonging and identity, feeling too much in some places and not enough in others. As someone who sometimes wrestles with isolation and what it means to be a Torontonian, the project has been a way for Lee to reconnect not only with the city but with himself.<\/p>\n \u201cI want you to look at these images, not just as images of somebody or something else, but a way for you to also examine your own relationship to space, to Toronto.\u201d<\/p>\n Lee has an insider\/outsider perspective, having come from West Germany but also having lived here long enough to have memory and history in this place. This allows Lee to view Toronto through a unique lens, a situation he says is familiar to many Torontonians.<\/p>\n Lee wants to draw attention to the issues in this city, especially the inequitable access to public space, gentrification, social precarity, racism, and marginalization. Part of Lee\u2019s message is to start talking about these issues, have conversations, and ask questions.<\/p>\n Lee aims to foreground those often viewed as invisible by broader society \u2013 older women, the LGBTQ+ community, differently-abled people, and unhoused individuals. Whether that\u2019s owning their corner of Bloor and Bathurst or navigating their daily routines, Lee wants people to realize that everyone deserves to be seen.\u00a0If nothing else, Lee hopes his photos will make individuals more empathetic to those they see on the streets.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is very generous, and it feels like the entire world is a level playing field to him,\u201d says Brendemu\u0308hl. He\u2019s working to \u201cempower people to reconstitute their<\/em> Toronto,\u201d with images that help people realize this is their city.<\/p>\n As Brendemu\u0308h puts it, \u201cZun manages to give us perspectives outside of our own experiences.\u201d He portrays communities and people that many Torontonians don\u2019t have access to, don\u2019t intersect with, or simply ignore. When we move around public spaces, we must see it from our own viewpoint, but through this exhibition, Lee helps us learn to see the world through other perspectives.<\/p>\n The for:GROUND project is a living, moving, developing \u201cexhibition in the making,\u201d says Brendemu\u0308hl, dedicating one of its walls to ongoing contributions from local and emerging photographers such as Kalmplex, Sarah Espedido, Ammar Bowaihl, and isi bhakhomen. Lee and Brendemu\u0308hl say these will add something to the conversation.<\/p>\n The exhibition will host a panel of Black arts workers, curators, and artists from Berlin to internationalize the concept of racialized wayward bodies being regulated in public spaces. There will also be a one-on-one portfolio review for TMU photography graduate students.<\/p>\n for:GROUND also features carefully curated playlists, a film screening, Lee\u2019s influential book list, and a sticky note message board for visitors to leave comments, ask questions, and contribute to the conversation.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all care about this space. Deeply but differently.\u201d \u2013 Zun Lee<\/p>\n![\"Street](\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/05\/R6C_8765-copy.jpg\")
<\/a>Loitering as a reclamation of space<\/h2>\n
Zun Lee\u2019s approach to the streets<\/h2>\n
![\"Zun](\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/05\/R003451_DxO-copy.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Zun](\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/05\/R0320311_DxO-copy.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Zun](\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/05\/DSC_9563_DxO-copy.jpg\")
<\/a>for:GROUND<\/h2>\n
![\"Goethe-Institut,](\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/05\/R6C_8573-copy.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Goethe-Institut,](\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/05\/R6C_9778-copy.jpg\")
<\/a>