A snapshot of lives lived on the gritty streets of Toronto

TORONTO - Images of squeegee kids and the homeless as seen through the lens of Toronto photojournalist David Barker Maltby will be on view in the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery from April 13 to May 11, 2006.

Toronto-born Maltby, who died of meningitis at age 38 in 2001, often lived with the people he photographed. He also came to know their plight while working as a photographer for such organizations as the city’s Street Health and Anishnawbe Health.

"David was a social documentary photographer in the classic definition of the word," co-curator Susan Maltby said of her brother, who began his photographic career as an undergraduate at the University of Toronto.

Maltby, who grew up in Leaside and studied photography at Toronto’s Humber College, had work published in Now Magazine, Toronto Life, Our Times, This Magazine and the Globe and Mail during his lifetime.

"As someone who described people in difficult social and economic conditions," recalls his sister, "he hoped to contribute to a wider public awareness and eventual improvement of both their lives and the underlying conditions. He believed that images have a part to play in the overall struggle to realize basic principles of social justice."

Appropriately, the gallery for an exhibition of Maltby’s photographs during the 1998 Mayworks Festival was a trailer in the parking lot of Toronto’s west-end Dufferin Mall--a working class setting a world apart from the well-heeled suburban neighbourhood where he spent his youth.

--Julie Mollins

Panel discussion on homelessness and photography
Hart House Music Room
Wednesday, May 3, from 7 to 9 p.m.
Moderated by Jim Chambers
Speakers include Ryan Carter, Patti Gower and Goran Petkovski.

The Photography of David Barker Maltby
Curated by Ethan Eisenberg and Susan Maltby
Thursday, April 13 to May 11, 2006

Hours: Monday to Friday -- 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday -- 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Statutory holidays -- closed

For further information,
please contact the gallery during opening hours at 416-978-8398
The Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, Hart House
University of Toronto
7 Hart House Circle
www.utoronto.ca/gallery