Pengziang Zhou

Walking through downtown Toronto, I wonder what nature means to us now. With all those high rises and concretes, we are slowly sacrificing spaces for nature. Natural elements like trees and rivers have become decorations instead of essentials. Along the Don River, it showed me a slightly different view; a mixing point of the city and nature landscape. Then, after I explored more areas, I also found the Port Lands district and its ongoing project. The Port Lands is redesigned to be a future eco-friendly community by removing old industrial plants and facilities. And as soon as I entered the area, a text immediately caught my eye: “ I’m heading into the city to lose myself in nature -Port Lands 2024”

I am a photographer based in Toronto, Canada, attending the photography BFA program at Toronto Metropolitan University. Since I was introduced to photography, I mainly focus on landscape and documentary works using digital and analog camera systems. To me, nature is the primary theme that brought me into photography in the first place. While exploring different places, I use my camera to preserve what catches my eye and allow my audience to see through my lens. In my latest thesis project, The Next Chapter, I investigate the relationship between the modern urban sphere and the natural world. In the series, I show how concretes overtake natural space in the GTA area; as an extension of the original idea, I also include possible innovations we are building to improve the condition.