PhotoSensitive’s founding photographer, Andrew Stawicki, began his career as a photographer in his native Poland and then Germany before immigrating to Canada with his young family in 1982.
Although Andrew’s English wasn’t great, he let his camera do the talking and soon picked up a job as a staff photographer for the Toronto Star. His photos also featured in “A Day in the Life of…” series of books, on the USA, Canada, Japan, Spain and the Soviet Union. His photos of Mennonites, taken over a 10-year period, were published in the book, “A People Apart”.
For some time, being a Toronto Star photographer suited him. “I got the car. I got the camera. I got to travel. I had so many opportunities. I got everything a photographer dreams of,” Andrew recalls. But this wasn’t enough.
“You have to understand: in Poland we had always worked together,” he continues. “Out of necessity, one guy would take photos, one guy would print photos, one guy would mount photos, one guy would get them into an exhibition. And then, together, a story would be told.
“But here, in Canada, in Toronto, I kept seeing everyone was out for themselves. Sometimes we talked, but it was competitive, every guy out for himself. And I thought why can’t we do something together? Something to help other people. I looked at Tony Hauser’s portraits: Incredible. And Yuri Dojc’s pictures: Amazing. Benjamin Rondel’s: Genius. And I thought: Each of us has such a different way of shooting; each of us has a different way of seeing. I thought: here we are, a bunch of crazy guys doing beautiful things but we are doing it all alone! What if we all worked together on a project, tried to make something change for the better?”
So, one afternoon, frustrated at tight deadlines and too little space to display his photos in the newspaper, Andrew went to see his friend and Star photo editor, Peter Robertson. Peter was also tired of the smash-and-grab style of photojournalism of the day and so his response to Andrew’s moaning was immediate.
“Stop your complaining, man, and let’s do something different! Let’s put together a team of great photographers. We’ll work differently. No more smash-and-grab. We’ll tell ’em: Take your time. Take time to get to know your subjects. Take time to do your best work. That’s what our message will be: you will have time with us. Take it. Use it. And then let’s use the pictures to change the world.”
Within a week, Andrew had gathered together a group of 17 photographers and they soon set to work on the first ever PhotoSensitive project, about the poor and homeless – “It’s In Their Eyes”.
Andrew Stawicki says having time to get to know the homeless and the hungry was key to the exhibit’s success. “I didn’t have time to get to know the guy on the bench when I was shooting for the newspaper. I’d try—of course I’d try. But I often didn’t know his name, whether he was sick or drunk. We never got enough time.”
For “It’s In Their Eyes,” Andrew was determined that this would not be the case and that he and his fellow photographers would get to know these homeless people. MP Gerard Kennedy was the executive director of the Daily Bread Food Bank at the time, the agency that partnered with PhotoSensitive on the project, and he was able to introduce Andrew’s team to many homeless people who were willing to be photographed for the exhibition.
“They invited us into their living rooms, which could be underneath a bridge or in an alley,” Andrew remembers. “We insisted on using their names. These are not strangers. They are people with names and stories. And we showed their faces; we gave them their dignity. Tony Hauser took the same care with their portraits as he would have with a CEO of a bank. We took pictures not because they were homeless. We took pictures because they were human.”
“It’s In Their Eyes” was a huge success and the team quickly moved on to new projects; “Precious Time,” for which the group was granted unprecedented, 24-hour, unlimited access to Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children; “Hand of Hope”, a study of the work of United Way; “Them = Us”, exploring Canada’s diversity; “Braille = Equality” showing the impact of those little raised dots on the lives of the blind and partially sighted; and “Child Poverty: A National Disgrace,” which lifted the lid on the extent of child poverty in Canada, 11 years after Parliament had promised to eradicate it by the turn of the millennium.
Despite the success of PhotoSensitive, Andrew was always looking to take the group to new places and on to new challenges. Over the next 10 years, PhotoSensitive travelled to Africa and Asia, focusing on the scourge of AIDS, the effects of the tsunami and the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide. PhotoSensitive travelled across Canada, displaying its exhibitions in every province.
And the group continued to grow. From that initial group of 17 photographers, PhotoSensitive has grown beyond recognition. There are now almost 900 photographers who have given their time and talent freely to PhotoSensitive’s causes.
“We have always looked to include people in our projects,” says Andrew. “Our strength is that we have been fortunate enough to be able to reach out to photographers all over the country – and they always say, yes, we will join you.”
Now, 20 years on, Andrew hasn’t finished yet. Work has already started on another ambitious project, with energy as its theme. PhotoSensitive is increasingly using video in its projects and the Internet is becoming an essential way for the group to get its work out to an even wider audience. In many ways, the 20 year anniversary marks a new beginning for PhotoSensitive.
“Remember the first time you paint a room?” Andrew asks. “You paint and you paint and you paint. And finally all the paint brushes are put away. And you look around and you think, my goodness, I did this. Well, look what’s been achieved by this small, dedicated group—it’s pretty impressive and they should each be proud! But there’s more to be done, much more!”
With extracts from the book, “Field of Vision: PhotoSensitive and Social Change” by PhotoSensitive and Alannah Campbell.
