Found in ‘The Atlantic Cities’
The Man Who Turns Toronto’s Sewers Into Art
by Eric Jaffe Apr 29, 2013
“Many city residents prefer not to think about the underground network of dark and dirty pipes that carry their water and waste somewhere … else. Michael Cook isn’t one of them. On the contrary, Cook goes out of his way to explore and illuminate all types of drain systems winding below his native metropolitan Toronto, as a means of raising awareness about city sewage problems.
“One of the reasons that it’s been so difficult to get traction around the issues of water in the city is that the infrastructure is completely invisible,” he says.
The 30-year-old Cook has been documenting Toronto tunnels for about a decade, often posting images at his blog, The Vanishing Point. At first he’d check where certain creeks disappeared from street maps to find outfalls or other points of entry. (“My back hurts thinking about some of the places I stumbled through back then,” he says.) He’s since expanded his operation to the complete network of sewers — combined, storm, overflow, and relief pipes, among them — that stretch across the city.”
Read full article here.
Photo Credit: Michael Cook. North York Storm Trunk Sewer (2013)
Photo Credit: Michael Cook. Spadina Storm Trunk Sewer (2013)
Photo Credit: Michael Cook. Parkside Relief Sewer (2013)
Photo Credit: Michael Cook. East Toronto Combined Sewer (2013)
Photo Credit: Michael Cook. Lavender Creek Sewer (2013)
