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Artist Profile: Vincenzo Pietropaolo Vincenzo Pietropaolo immigrated as a child with his family to Toronto where he is now a leading documentary photographer. Self taught, he became active in photography in 1971 exploring streets and parks and documenting the people of his newly adopted city. In 1991 he left a parallel career as an urban planner with the City of Toronto to dedicate himself fully to photography. Toronto has remained a life-long passion for Pietropaolo as he continues tophotograph the fabric of life in the city, striving to bring a renewed awareness to both its social reality and the beauty of its natural world. His work on street life in Toronto was selected to illustrate Jane Jacobs’ a landmark exhibition “The Death and Life of Great American Cities.” In a major feature of his work about Toronto, Canadian Geographic Magazine called him “one of Canada’s pre-eminent documentary photographers.” Pietropaolo’s early work is featured in his book “Not Paved with Gold,” an exploration of the immigrant experience of his own community in Toronto. He has produced extensive photo essays on a variety of urban and environmental issues including projects featuring workers across Canada, religious rituals, architecture, Mexico and Cuba. Respected for his empathetic approach and social commitment, Geist Magazine wrote that his work “is a brilliant example of photography at its most ‘communicative:’ for Pietropaolo, the camera is a tool for touching the world.” He has published seven books including “Harvest Pilgrims” (BTL, 2009). He recently completed the photography and text for his next book, “Invisible No More: a Photographic Chronicle of the Lives of People with Intellectual Disabilities” (Rutgers University Press, 2010). This is Pietropaolo’s third calendar for the Toronto Parks and Trees Foundation. It is a testament to his profound love affair with trees which he characterizes as “a continuing work-in-progress for his camera.” |
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