We were commissioned by the Portrait Gallery of Canada to create a booth for Art/To that reflected their mandate. The Portrait Gallery’s mandate is to create a collection that reflects all aspects of Canadian culture. If  we could capture the diversity of the art fair audience we would be able to fulfill the Gallery’s mandate of inclusivity. Keeping with our Itinerant Photo Studio model how could we take a series of portraits of the Art/To patrons which went beyond the ubiquitous head shot and create a photograph which reflected the sitter’s character. We needed something or some vehicle where their character would shine through. As the saying goes “we are defined by our choices”. Focusing on choice I realized that the viewer had to make several choices, the first being to participate. I remembered going to a party where we were invited to don different hats and have our a polaroid photo taken. Would a similar situation work at the Fair? Given a limited number of hats, the subjects would choose a hat and then pose for a photo. With a limited number of hats many individuals chose the same hat. The hats became the common thread and what was amazing was to see the diversity of poses and expressions the subjects presented. 

Once the photo was taken, we printed a copy for the subject.

The images are to be part of the Collection of the Portrait Gallery of Canada