The Spaces We Create

An artist’s studio is more than a place to work. It is a space shaped by ideas, experimentation, accumulated materials, and the routines of a creative practice. The Spaces We Create is a documentary photography series exploring the studios of artists working within Akin Collective’s shared studio spaces in Toronto.

 

Through photographs of workspaces, tools, materials, and personal details, the project documents the varied environments in which creative work takes place. Each studio offers a glimpse into an individual practice, revealing how artists shape their surroundings to accommodate the way they think, work, and make. Together, the photographs form a visual record of the spaces that support Toronto’s creative community.

 

Using a documentary approach, I photographed artists’ studios as they were, paying attention to the details that distinguish one workspace from another. From the arrangement of tools and materials to the evidence of work in progress, the photographs explore how creative practices become visible within the spaces artists inhabit.

 

Rather than presenting the studios as designed interiors, the series focuses on their character and individuality. The resulting images document not only the physical environments, but also the traces of the people and processes that give these spaces meaning.