Alleys & Ruins no. 56, Green Door (2000, Montreal, QC, 11:30pm)
Sometimes when I look at the light shining through a window or door in a dark alley, I catch glimpses of my youth, when magical episodes were common. I look at this divine light, piercing the darkness, filtering through old, soiled glass and I try to imagine what’s on the other side. Against the drab background of a dimly lit alley, they look like passages into another realm. What lies on the other side? an enchanted world perhaps? separated from the lonely desolation of the alley by only a rickety door or a grimy window.
My series of alleys is many things to me. It is an obsessive fine art project - begun in 1991 (and in earnest in 1993); it is a child which I feed and watch grow with every new addition; it is a unique record of what is unchartered territory – a dark world that goes unnoticed and often unseen; and it is also a documentary record of a disappearing world.
Carried along with progress, the old is replaced with the new. Many of these buildings and alleys vanish through demolition and renovation. The old battle weary buildings are torn down, or get extreme makeovers, losing their charm and the character of their age. Whenever I can, I return to my alleys, and it is striking how often they’ve been altered beyond recognition. My images are a record of unintended 20th century architectural beauty. Perhaps one day I’ll find there’s very little left to photograph.
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