 |
Gladstone
Remembered
Exhibition
of Gladstone Archives, Memorabilia, and Photographs
in
conjunction with DOORS OPEN TORONTO
May
25-29, 2006
Second
Floor
Exhibition
Hours:
Thursday
May 25 12-5pm
Friday
May 26 12-5pm
Saturday
May 27 10-5pm
Sunday May 28 10-5pm
Monday May 29 12-5pm |
In
conjunction with Doors Open Toronto, two exhibition rooms on
our second floor will showcase hilights from an archival exhibition
created for the Gladstone's Grand Opening Celebrations in December
2005. This exhibition of archives and memorabilia explores
glimpses of the social, architectural, hotel and bar history
of the Gladstone from 1889 to present.
The
exhibition will include photographs by Doug Forster. These
photographs have not been previously exhibited. His portraits
portray both the prior residents and the state of the architecture
prior to the Gladstone's recent restoration.
Artist
Statement:
I've
been an editorial portrait photographer for 20 years and I've
always been interested in people and their stories. My grandmother
used to tell me about Gypsies who lived close to her when she
was a young girl. I envisioned lives full of wild adventures,
and tales told around bonfires by a host of characters that
I would love to have met. I became fascinated in photography
by looking at the pictures in Life Magazine. In the last 20
years I've met a lot of very interesting people, and even though
they've been brief encounters I still feel that I come away
with a sense of who that person is and what they're about.
I
was on my way home from a job about five years ago listening
to a story on the news about the people who lived at the Gladstone.
It sounded like a good opportunity for a series of portraits
so I drove straight there and arranged with the management,
permission to take photos. I worked on this project
over a period of 4 or 5 months and in that time I started to
get a glimpse of the life of the Gladstone. I mostly hung around
the lobby and approached people as they came through. I was
trying to create a little time capsule of the hotel and the
people who lived there before it changed. These images are
a reflection of that experience. |
