David Scriven
This is where he lived, 2022 David Scriven
Common Ground
The oral history of my mother’s family has always intrigued me. In particular, I wanted to learn more about my French-Canadian ancestors who travelled from Quebec to Ontario in the mid-1800s. Some came with a simple aspiration to live self-sufficiently off the land. Very little was captured about their existence in an English-speaking largely protestant province. Other than a census every 10 years, the Roman Catholic church was the keeper of their records of baptisms, marriages, and interments. After building up a family tree, I sought out the places where they lived to document my online research. Destinations have revealed dog parks and dead ends. I am embracing being drawn to unknown places by my mostly silent ancestors.
David Scriven is a lens-based emerging artist living in Toronto’s Little Portugal neighbourhood. Grounded in documentary photography, to date his photographs have explored decay and renewal in the urban ecosystem. In October 2022, David showed work on the impact of the crosstown subway in Toronto, as part of a curated group show, entitled of place or position or posture at the MacKendrick Gallery, Toronto. He has also participated in a number of Spectra Open Call Contact Photography Festival group exhibitions at Artscape Youngplace, Toronto. In 2022 he exhibited images from a work in progress - a series of five photobooks called City Block. In November 2021, he self-published a photo book entitled Alexandra Park that captured a year in the complete demolition and rebuild of the Toronto west-end community housing project. Other group shows include a Work in Progress, at the Production Space, Gallery 44 in Toronto, and Dualities at ViewPoint Gallery in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Contact the artist directly for information on purchasing.
Contact: Dscriven57@gmail.com
Website: davidscrivenphotography.com
IG: @davidalbertscriven
May 6th to May 28th, 2023
Artscape Youngplace, 180 Shaw St, Toronto
Hallway Galleries, 2nd and 3rd floors
Artist Talk and Tour
Saturday, May 13th, 2023
11am & 1pm