Lot 33

Maureen O’Connor is a life-long animal lover and the photographs from “The Threshold Series” are produced with the cooperation of local sanctuaries, many of these animals from the series are rescues from fur farms and others are non-releasable wildlife. The animals in these images were brought and photographed onsite in the location seen in these photographs. Several of the locations are private homes in Toronto, pre-redevelopment or prior to the homes being demolished.

By photographing Canadian animals in abandoned and crumbling domestic architecture, O’Connor raises questions about how nature and the built environment intersect. She sees these spaces as transformative, evoking memory and showing the beauty and fragility of the animals and the architecture. While the juxtaposition may appear odd, the images convey a sense of calm and quiet tension. We are invited to cross the threshold and imagine new narratives where the natural world and the domestic world meet, and consider how this informs our identity in a country defined by both its wild landscape and its orderly cities.

O’Connor’s artistic practice is lens-based traditional photography and her photographs are printed on Chromogenic Paper, traditional darkroom emulsion based paper. Her work is held in various private and corporate collections throughout North America and Europe.