A Telling Portrait : The Work and Collection of Michael Mitchell

“Photographers tend to be collectors. Most people travel through life experiencing the world in successive moments […]. Photographers, however, stop to concentrate, preserve, and collect certain of those moments.” — Michael Mitchell, 2005

Working with prominent Canadian photographer, filmmaker, and writer Michael Mitchell, second-year students from Ryerson University’s Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management (FPPCM) program explore Mitchell’s rich and diversified career in the context of his personal photography collection. This exhibition, accompanied by a catalogue and digital publication, juxtaposes a selection of Mitchell’s own work alongside 19th- and 20th-century photographs from his collection and excerpts from his prolific writings. Highlighting his education and professional background in anthropology, this project celebrates Mitchell’s complex approach to the medium and his active and long-term commitment to Toronto’s photographic community.