In 2026, the Four Corners project will produce a series of photographic works that document and honour the lived experiences, values, and resilience of locally owned small businesses across Ottawa’s suburban and rural edges. These enterprises, often family-run and deeply rooted, anchor community life in ways that extend well beyond commercial exchange. They sustain networks of trust, reciprocity, and belonging. Through this project, I aim to illuminate the subtle forms of stewardship, interpersonal connection, and civic presence embodied in these spaces, and to highlight how they shape the social and cultural fabric of their neighbourhoods.
The work is scheduled for exhibition in November 2026.
Hugo Levendel, circa 1930.
Image courtesy Ottawa Jewish Archives
The Four Corners project pays homage to Hugo Levendel’s 1930s photographs of Ottawa’s ByWard Market and downtown businesses, potentially extending his documentary impulse across the vastly expanded geography of contemporary Ottawa's eleven former townships and twenty-four municipal wards.
Work in Progress
