Ryan Pyle Blog: Looking Back on Toronto

Hello.

I get to visit Toronto roughly once a year. And each time I visit it's an incredibly rewarding experience. Not only do I get to spend a week with friends and family, because I grew up in Toronto, I get to network and discuss my work.

This week I had a busy schedule. I participated in an artist lecture, whereby I got to speak about my work in Chinese Turkestan, to a standing room only crowd at the Arta Gallery in the Distillery District, located in Toronto's trendy lakefront area. A special thanks should go out to the Arta Gallery folks as well as my printers at Elevator Digital for helping to organize the event. After that I went knee deep in to the world of academia, with lectures at the Ryerson University School of Journalism and the University of Toronto's China Program.

The Ryerson visit was my second in as many years and I throughly enjoyed the experience. It was an opportunity for me to talk about what it is like living abroad and trying to document another society and culture. I'm always keen to share my experiences in China with an attentive audience and these journalism students were a fantastic audience and sparked some great discussion. As young students interested in journalism I think it's important that they try to understand what kind of options are available abroad.

The University of Toronto talk was equally as rewarding, talking about Change in China and what the future might hold for this awkwardly emerging super power. It's my third visit to the University of Toronto and my first since becoming an Affiliate Member of the Asian Institute, an academic body at the University of Toronto that deals with all things Asia. The reception was warm and I hope there will be much further collaboration with the University moving forward.

So a gallery talk, and a few lectures plus a Leaf's game and a Raptors' game. I had a full week and did a lot of important networking. I am a firm believer in networking and meeting people face to face. While China is my adopted home and I may never leave the Middle Kingdom, I thoroughly enjoy making trips to Europe and North America to meet with gallery owner and editors, and having a chance to promote my work.

Now I am off to New York, trying to build a network from scratch is never easy. Upwards and onwards.

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Ryan Pyle
Photographer
ryan@ryanpyle.com
Website: www.ryanpyle.com
Archive: http://archive.ryanpyle.com
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