Empringham Polaroids — A Day of Care
Kickback Foundation × Empringham, Toronto
On the Monday before school started, I spent the day in the Empringham neighborhood with the Kickback Foundation. Care was the current—haircuts, braids, and locs being retwisted while girls’ and boys’ basketball tournaments ran across the way.
My role was simple: make Polaroids. Each person photographed kept one portrait; a second print went into my archive. I let a few favorites go—and that was the point. The work is a pause from the feed, a reminder that we exist in physical form, not just on screens.
One for the sitter. One for the archive. Presence over performance.
I photographed the youth, the volunteers, and the staff. What stayed with me most was the generosity threaded through the whole day—people showing up for one another and choosing how they wanted to be seen.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Jamal and the Kickback Foundation for inviting me into this space, and to everyone in Empringham who stood in front of the camera.
