Presented throughout the TTC, this two-part project opens up a dialogue about Toronto. We’re in this Together suggests a number of different themes: personal relationships, the city’s myriad and ever-shifting communities, current political and economic realities, geographical boundaries, or ecological uncertainties.

The subway platform posters will feature a curated selection of work by six Toronto-based photographers, each with unique views of the city’s strengths and weaknesses, its beauty, and its secrets. Reflecting on its multiplicity, each artist presents work that connects to the concept of community in different ways. Alyssa Bistonath’s portraiture exudes warmth and shared intimacy; Ruth Kaplan takes pictures of people living within communities of acceptance; Aaron Vincent Elkaim’s documentary practice illuminates but does not define the people he photographs; Brent Lewin makes images about social issues and cultural conditions; Debra Friedman’s figures bestow profound meaning on their surroundings; and Robert Poulton makes photographs that focus on cultural transitions.

The LCD screens will showcase photos submitted by the public in response to an open call asking Torontonians to consider what We’re in this Together means to them. For the month of May, the selected images will be seen at over 300 locations across the TTC, a different photo being featured once every five minutes throughout the day. We’re in this Together allows us all to share our impressions about what it’s like to live in Toronto. Images can be submitted to the Contacting Toronto group on Flickr until May 30.

Dedicated screens: Bloor (N & S platform), St Andrew (S platform), Dundas (S platform) May 1- 8

Co-produced by Pattison/Onestop and Art for Commuters, in partnership with CONTACT. Supported by the Ontario Arts Council.

Curated by Sharon Switzer

• Ruth Kaplan (b. 1955, Montréal, Canada) is a documentary-based photographer whose work integrates still photographs and video and explores a variety of themes such as the social behaviour of bathers in communal hot springs, congregants participating in rituals of spirituality, and, most recently, refugees living in shelters along the Canada-US border as they await decisions on their pending status. Work from Kaplan’s series Some Kind of Divine (2000–10) and Bathers (1991–2002) can be found in numerous private and corporate collections in Toronto, as well as across Canada, and in the collections of the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; the Image Centre at Toronto Metropolitan University; the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris. Kaplan has exhibited internationally and is represented by Stephen Bulger Gallery. Her editorial work can be found in major Canadian and international publications, she has received numerous grants and awards and is currently an instructor at OCAD University, Toronto Metropolitan University, and University of Toronto Scarborough.