These photographic works are based on the site specific video installation I produced for the exhibition “Art School {Dismissed}” held in the decommissioned Givins/Shaw School in 2010.

When I first visited the school, I was flooded by memories of my elementary school because the building was exactly like the school I attended in Toronto in the early 1960s. I made a work that sprang from a memory about my Grade 5 teacher who undressed in class – a poignant moment that has stayed with me for over fifty years. I had a hunch that other people would have pretty interesting recollections of this formative period in their lives, so I solicited memories from my family, friends and acquaintances.

The responses I received fell into two categories—About Teachers and About Students—and ranged from sweet to heart-breaking: stories of crushes, friendships, embarrassing moments, break downs, punishments, bullying, and other formative incidents.

In this new photographic series, the texts and the photographs do not illustrate each other. Instead, they have been paired to evoke a collective experience of elementary school in this culture.

Memories: Barbara Astman, Lisa Ayuso, Jean Brophey, Lois Fine, Dean Goodman, Gary Hall, Melissa Levin, Janna Levitt, Nina Levitt, Sydney Anne Levitt, Jackie O’Keefe, Kim Simon, Matthew Teitelbaum,

Photographs courtesy of: Debbie Adams, Toronto District School Board Archive, Givins/Shaw Public School.

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